Superhuman
by AlexaNDYE
Summary: Pepper gains superhuman powers in an unimaginable way, but it could very well mean the destruction of Tony Stark, and the rest of the Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is the newest fic I've been meaning to hash out. Hopefully people will be willing to come along with me on this particular journey. Like a good ride, there are always sharp turns, bumps, and happy endings - and now i really want to go to Disneyland...**

**Rated T for future language.**

**Disclaimer: Marvel can take all of my money. ALL OF IT!**

**Read and enjoy!  
**

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Pepper walked through the doors of the Stark Tower with her purse on her shoulder, and her Blackberry pressed against her ear. She pressed her lips together as she stepped outside. It was well in the after noon, but the setting sun gave a new meaning to the fresh air. She filled her nostrils with the addicting smell of serenity before speaking to her boyfriend slash boss.

"Tony, you don't have to pick me up. Happy is very capable of—" She smiled into her phone as she got cut off.

"Pepper," Tony spoke into one of the monitors. He was in the Avenger's laboratory in the Helicarrier. Bruce was at the other end of the laboratory, trying to mind his own business. "Happy can't fly you up here."

She grinned. "Why exactly is my presence going to be on that huge flying… thing?" She tried to think of the word to describe the carrier.

"Because I need you here." He spoke softly, whilst eyeing Bruce. The last thing he needed was a bunch of SHIELD agents and Bruce suspiciously eyeing him for being openly romantic and soft.

Bruce turned around anyways, and furrowed his eyebrows at Tony. Tony shot back the same look, and spun his index finger in a circle, gesturing him to turn around and mind his own business. Bruce did just that, but not before chuckling to himself.

"That's a poor excuse." She breathed, watching millions of people walk along the sidewalk.

"It's the truth." He slid a few things around on the monitor. "Besides, I think…" He opened a small window on the monitor to reveal a gorgeous beach setting. "… We can pencil in that vocation spot we've been looking at."

"The one with the private beach, and sea turtles?" She grinned to herself and bit her bottom lip, unable to contain her giddiness.

"The very same." He reassured her. "All you have to do is join me on this big whale of a ship for a few days, talk to that pirate Fury, and by that, I mean compliment him on his snazzy eye patch, and we're good for the weekend."

She ignored his poke about Fury. "You're making it really hard for me to say no."

"One of my many talents." He replied back with a wide grin.

Pepper grinned before resting her arm across her chest. In truth, she did have a lot of work to do, but Tony would only argue that it could be done while on the Helicarrier, so that argument hastily flew out the window. She took a good second to weigh out the pros and cons.

"I'll tell you what." She started out, making Tony's ears perk up. "Happy will drive me to the nearest airport and you can pick me up."

Tony rubbed his hands together in excitement, making Bruce casually peak over his shoulder. "Sounds like a plan."

"No flashy entrances." She chastised him. "Remember last time?"

"Hacking into every electronic to play some AC/DC shouldn't be categorized as a flashy entrance." He half-rolled his eyes.

She breathed a laugh and shook her head. "Pick me up in ten."

"How's about three, and maybe some Burger King?" He flashed a grin; his entire being lighting up.

She shook her head. "I'll see you in ten minutes, Tony."

"Bye." He softly said before hearing the click, indicating the end of their call.

"Wow." Bruce gasped.

"Hey, when you get a girlfriend, you'll be in the same mushy state as me." Tony shot back, angrily looking at the doctor. No one really understood why Tony got all defensive about his feelings towards Pepper. People assumed it was because he was two faces of the same coin; there was a face only meant for Pepper, and a face for the rest of the world to see. There was a one percent chance of catching a glimpse of the side reserved for only Pepper.

"Mmm." Bruce hummed in disbelief. "My romantic life is… complicated, but that's not what I was concerned about."

"What's wrong?" Tony walked behind the doctor and looked over his shoulder.

The two scientists had been researching nanotechnology. It was a special project of theirs. It was only planned out for research and nothing more. It was essentially day three of their nanobot log, and they had already made small discoveries, but none that could catch the eyes of the best scientists in the world.

"The nanobots in section four are progressing rapidly." Bruce started before grabbing a nearby microscope. He looked through the hole and hummed again. "They're taking on a structure I've never seen before." He looked away and gestured towards the microscope, giving Tony a peek.

Tony looked down at the sample, and twisted the knobs a little to get a better view. "Wow." He breathed. "What kind of steroids did you give these little guys?"

"I only gave them a sample of dead tissue." Bruce shrugged. "And this was last night."

"The nanobots have completely resurrected the tissue. They've reconstructed the entire area. And they're pulsating." Tony looked away with a confused look. "That's odd."

"Hm?" Bruced looked through the microscope once more. "They're evolving."

"Seems like we've discovered something big." Tony tapped his finger against the table.

"Big, like billion dollars, big?" Bruce glanced at him.

"No, big as in end-of-the-world-if-in-the-wrong-hands big." Tony pressed his lips together. "Convert all nanobot files to the private server through JARVIS' standards." He picked up his sweatshirt from the nearby coat rack.

"Where are you going?" Bruce rushed to a monitor to move all of the files.

"Weren't you eavesdropping?" Tony grinned. "I've got a girlfriend to pick up."

Bruce watched as Tony practically rushed out of the laboratory and towards the landing pad. He grinned in surprise and shook his head. It was surely possible to make Tony do anything with the notion that his personal assistant will be in the mix.

…

Pepper had just gotten off the phone with Tony. She made her way down the small stairs that led to the bustling street of New York City. Happy was on the other side with the Bentley awaiting her presence. He looked at her with a promising grin and ran around to the front to open the door for her.

Pepper tried to weave in and out of the oncoming crowd. It was only at the last strip of people when she felt a pinch on her arm.

She paused for a few seconds and gasped at the sudden pain. She furrowed her eyebrows and moved her shoulder to take a look at the origin of the sting. A small puffy spot began to emerge, making her heavily sigh.

"Everything all right, Miss Potts?" Happy asked from the car. Pepper slowly walked towards him with a frown.

"Yeah…" she huffed. "…I think something bit me." She turned her head to get a better look at the puffy spot, and even scratched it a little.

"Mosquitoes." Happy began to nod. "Horrible bastards."

"Ugh," Pepper huffed. "I usually don't get bitten though."

"I have some bug spray if you want to use it." He offered her.

"It's alright. I won't need it where I'm headed." She grinned, knowing the Helicarrier was well protective of its contents. She slid into the vehicle with a small smile and kept her eye on the bite. _A band-aid should do_, she thought.

A man on the other side of the street, sitting at a café table, glanced at the Bentley with a small grin. "One step at a time." He mumbled to himself. A waitress placed a cup of Jasmine tea and a small plate of biscuits in front of him.

The waitress grinned lightly. "Is there anything else I can get for you, sir?"

The man glanced up at the woman with a charming grin. "This will be all, thank you."

…

"Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick." Pepper groaned from the landing pad as she walked away from the bots that began to disassemble the Iron Man suit off of Tony's body.

Tony walked out of the thing in mere seconds; his thin black cotton t-shirt, and pair of black pants hugged his body perfectly. Pepper would've been ogling him at that very moment, but her stomach told her otherwise.

"Oh c'mon, Pep." He trailed closely behind her. "It wasn't that bad."

Pepper shook her head and held on to her purse. "Tony, you're lucky I didn't throw up on you on the way here."

"Wouldn't be the first time." He mumbled to himself, biting his lip.

"What was that?" She turned her head to glare at him.

"Nothing, sweetheart." He grinned lovingly. "Want me to get you some Advil, or maybe something to drink to clear your head?"

She kept on walking despite the combination of his poking and proding, and the rattling in her body. "Two Advil and a bottle of water."

"Coming right up!" He cheered and went to the nearest intercom. He pressed the button, "Hi, welcome to the big giant camouflaging whale, how may I take your order Mister Stark?" Pepper couldn't help but grin at his antics. He began to grin back at her, as if he were trying to mentally help her feel better. "I'd like two capsules of Advil and one bottle of water." He switched positions. "Would you like to super size that?" He switched again. "Heavens no."

Pepper began to stifle a laugh.

Within a minute, Steve Rogers jogged up to the landing pad with a bottle of water and some Advil. "One bottle of water and some Advil."

"Thanks, Sprinkles." Tony swiped the contents from his hands and gave them to Pepper.

"Thank you, Steve." She grinned, opening the bottle of water.

"Always a pleasure, Miss Potts." Steve nodded back with a flattering smile.

"Whoa, whoa, why is he Steve?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows.

"Because he took the effort to actually get me some Advil." Pepper glared at Tony, making him throw up his hands in surrender.

"Point taken." He looked back at the Captain, and eyed him suspiciously. "Why did you _actually_ do what I said this time? If this is some sneaky way into getting to my girl, I'm on to you."

Steve rolled his eyes in response. "The last time you did that little skit, you wouldn't stop until someone actually gave you what you wanted, and after hearing you talk to yourself for thirty minutes really made me want to throw one of my punching bags at you."

"So do it, Blue man." Tony took his words as a threat and stepped towards him. "Go ahead."

Steve glared at him, feeling his breath against his face. "I'm not going to punch you."

"Why, because you can't do it?" Tony spat back, eyes narrowed, and fists balled up.

"It would be pretty darn embarrassing to get beaten by an 'old man' such as myself, _and_ beating the crap out of you in front of a lady would be disrespectful." Steve shot back at him with a sly grin; his fists were at his side, aching for action.

Pepper doubled over, and paid no attention to their little spout. Something in her body didn't feel right. There were aches, and some pain in certain areas, but she thought it was just from the effects of the recent flight.

In the past few months, every single time she had flown a small distance with Tony, she'd get a little light headed, but it was nothing too serious – it was nothing like this.

Her hands felt clammy and her breathing shortly increased. Something was wrong with her, and she didn't know what. She convinced herself that it was just the after effects of the journey, because Pepper Potts rarely got sick.

"Better get ready, Twinkle Toes, because after I wring you out, I'm going to hoist you on top of a pole and sing the 'Star Spangled Banner'." Tony threatened him with a heavy glare.

Bruce had just walked by, and when he heard his last name, he paused in confusion. "Huh?" He gasped. His eyes slowly lay upon Pepper Potts and the painful expression she wore. "Oh god, Pepper, are you okay?"

Tony quickly turned around. Pepper's arms were against her stomach as if she were trying to suppress the pain; that painful look on her face made him instantly crumble to her side. "Pepper?"

Pepper squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm fine."

Bruce was quickly by her side, and instantly noticed the pale color of her skin. She was far from 'fine'. "Give her some room." He pressed two fingers to her neck to feel her pulse and noticed the increasing rate in her pulse. He took out a small flash light from his back pocket and flashed it in her eyes.

Tony turned around and looked at Steve. All thoughts of their previous quarrel vanished. "Get the medic up here." He practically ordered him.

Steve knew that orderly tone of his, and usually he'd protest against his words, but given the sudden circumstances, he had to comply. Steve nodded, and ran back into the corridor.

Pepper was now on her knees, mentally begging for the pain to stop. Tony crawled up next to her, and allowed her to rest her head against his chest. She gasped short breathes in hopes of fighting back the unbearable throbbing.

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**Reviews are always appreciated. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm so glad people are interested in this fic. :) Makes my stomach all warm and fuzzy!**

**This chapter will introduce super power #1! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Stan Lee. Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow. I own nothing.**

**NOTE: I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON HUMAN BIOLOGY OR NANOTECHNOLOGY.  
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Natasha walked into the observation room. Pepper was in the room next to theirs, along with Bruce. Tony was quietly and impatiently waiting beside Hawkeye. Tony had his arms crossed against his chest, his foot was tapping against the plastic flooring, and his dark cold stare could be seen in the reflected glass. She quietly came up behind Clint and looked towards the same glass that separated them from the other room.

"How is she?" She quietly asked him.

Clint gave a small shrug. "Bruce just got a sample of her blood. The good news is, is that Miss Potts seems to be all right now."

"The pain just disappeared…" Tony quietly mumbled, but loud enough for them to hear. "…She says she's fine."

"Weird." Natasha replied, her gaze now on Tony.

"Which is why Bruce is taking a sample of her blood, and analyzing it." He replied as he still stared at the pair in the room next to them. His eyes were on Pepper the whole time.

Pepper sat on top of a metallic table. Her fingers brushed against the cold metal countless times in hopes of calming herself down. For the past two hours, she had been in pain, but now that it subsided, she only wanted to get back to her duties as co-CEO of Stark Industries. Tony then persuaded her otherwise, and after a few minutes of arguing, she grumbled against his wishes and agreed it was best to be safe than sorry.

Her long legs dangled as they were only mere inches from touching the floor. She impatiently waited for Bruce to give her the okay.

Bruce was hunched over a nearby table with a very expensive microscope. He placed the slits of glass under the big machine. He twisted a few knobs to get the right angle and sharpness.

He looked away and furrowed his eyebrows. He looked through the microscope again and almost gasped.

Tony pressed his lips together in hopes that Bruce didn't find anything out of the ordinary. It's true that Pepper Potts rarely ever got sick, but when she did, it would hit her hard. He hoped that nothing life threatening would bestow its presence in her. He vowed to protect her, and it would crush him if he couldn't keep his promise.

"Did you guys want something to eat or drink?" Natasha calmly asked, almost in a sympathetic tone.

"I'm fine." Tony brushed her off.

"I'll go with you. I'm kind of hungry." Clint responded before turning around and following Natasha out of the observation room. Once they were out of earshot, he quietly whispered to her, "I thought the silence in that room was going to choke me to death."

Natasha lightly smiled. "I've been in that situation before. I think you owe me one for saving your life."

"Please." He breathed with a smile.

Tony kept his distance, but his tendency to pace was eating at him.

"Tony." Bruce said from the intercom. He saw the questioning look from the man. "You're going to want to take a look at this."

Pepper curiously looked at Bruce before her gaze fell on the figure that entered the room. Tony quietly made over to her and brushed is hand against her own to reassure her. She flashed him a small smile in response. He made his way over to the doctor in a hurry.

"What's wrong?" Tony quietly gasped.

"I…" Bruce shook his head. He had the look of disbelief. "I… don't actually know."

"What do you—" Tony peered into the microscope and almost immediately jumped away. "What is that?" He pointed at the device. "Please tell me that's a mistake."

"What?" Pepper gasped. "What is it?"

Bruce shifted his gaze between the pair and began to shrug. "I honestly don't know what to say."

"Please tell me you accidentally looked at the wrong sample." Tony gritted through his teeth.

"Tony..." Pepper worriedly said, trying to get his attention.

"I am one hundred percent certain I didn't use the wrong sample." Bruce pressed his lips together. He kept glancing at Pepper as if he were trying to keep an eye on her. Any sudden movements she made almost made Bruce jump.

Tony gritted his teeth for a moment. "Pepper." He slowly approached her. "I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing—"

"What?" She breathed with wide eyes. "What's wrong? Am I sick?"

"Well…" He partly shrugged.

"You're certainly not sick." Bruce mumbled from a distance, making Tony glare at him.

"To put it bluntly…" Tony paused to gaze at her. She wore a worried look, one that he'd always see whenever he got back from a tough mission or an impossible battle. "You have nanobots in your system."

She narrowed her eyes at the two. "What?" She gasped with a shocking tone. "What does that mean?"

"It means there are microscopic—" Bruce got interjected by Tony.

"Infinitesimal, actually." He corrected him.

"…Infinitesimal…" Bruce rolled his eyes. "Really, really, really, tiny devices are latching onto your molecular structure."

"Oh my—" Pepper stopped short.

"It doesn't mean that you're going to die or anything like that." Tony tired to calm her down. "I think…"

"Actually, we really don't know what these nanobots are doing with your molecular structure." Bruce walked back to the microscope. "They're actually latching onto your muscular tissue as well, so they could be doing an infinite amount of things." He looked back at the pair. His words weren't exactly cutting the string of pure shock that Pepper had been feeling.

Tony placed his hand on top of hers to reassure her. His thumb brushed against her wrist almost lovingly. "It's not as bad as it sounds."

"Well, it's actually pretty bad—" Bruce stopped when he got a hard glare from Tony. He immediately back tracked, "Um… what I mean is that we don't exactly know what it is doing in your system, or what its purpose is."

Tony looked back at her. "Did you eat anything weird lately, or get injected with anything?" Pepper slowly shrugged before back-tracking. "I mean, if you've been taking drugs, I won't be particularly mad at you. Everyone needs to wind down every once in a while."

Pepper's hand whacked his arm. "That's absurd." He responded with a wide grin. "I remember getting bit after I left the Stark Tower, but it was just a bug bite."

Bruce and Tony looked at each other in doubt. The doctor furrowed his eyebrows and pressed his lips together, "I don't think it was a bug bite."

"It was only a half an hour later until you felt sudden aches and pain." Tony told her.

"But…" Pepper's mouth gapped.

"Unfortunately," Tony spoke up again. "Until we figure out what those things are doing in your system, you're going to have to stay under close observation."

"Meaning?" She eyed him.

He placed a reassuring hand on her thigh. "Meaning, you'll have to stay in here."

"So, I can't work?"

Tony shook his head. Pepper gave a sharp look at Bruce, but he shrugged in response. "Tony has a good point." The doctor spoke up. "In the event of something going horribly wrong, I'd rather be in close proximity."

Tony furrowed his eyebrows at him. The doctor's words sounded like an advancement towards Pepper, so his territorial instincts kicked in. "My girlfriend, not yours." He bit back.

Bruce tried not to grin, but instead rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

Pepper heavily sighed. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. In all of her years being close to the best technology in the world, she gets involved in the uncanny event known to man. And what's worse was that she was confined from working, something she was looking forward to once she complied with Tony's wishes. The weird combination of work and his presence oddly increased productiveness on both sides. "Can I at least get something to drink?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded with a small smile.

Pepper slipped off the table and felt his hand squeeze hers. When she looked back at him, all she could see was that reassuring grin on his face. Bruce was the first to notice the change in Tony's entire being whenever Pepper was near him. He was pretty sure everyone else knew it too, but he was always the one to be dangerously exposed to their relationship thanks to Tony referring to their partnership as, 'The Science Bros'.

Pepper placed her hand on the knob of the door, and twisted her wrist to open it, but when her arm swung it open; the whole entire door flew off, making a loud crunching sound. Her eyes widened as she lifted her arm with her hand still holding the knob. The entire door was in her hand – her single hand.

Pure shock warped through her body as she slowly turned to face the other two. Tony looked like a bucket of water had just been dumped on him. Bruce was the only one with a confused look, which made sense since he wasn't easily surprised with things out of the ordinary.

"Huh." Bruce looked at the scene in front of him with an intrigued look.

"Holy shit." Tony gasped as his eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Um…!" Pepper tried not to panic as she looked at the disconnected door.

"Uh…" Tony couldn't stop staring. "Why—What—How—"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed, trying to get away from the door as if it were poisonous.

While the two were individually panicking, Bruce was the only one that moved towards the detached door. "Does it feel heavy?"

"I—" Pepper shook her head hastily. "I don't know—it doesn't feel like anything."

Tony's eyes were still wide. "Holy shit…" he repeated.

Bruce looked at the hinges on the door way and then at the door itself. "Call me crazy—"

"I think that already flew out the window." Tony spoke up, still looking at Pepper.

"—But I think these nanobots are altering your molecular structure and muscular tissue to give you some sort of advantage." Bruce turned around to look back into the microscope on the other table.

Pepper cringed and slowly lowered her arm. She wore the most disgusted look when she tried her best to lean the door against the wall. Tony couldn't only stare in what looked to be pure shock and amazement.

"Advantage?" Pepper scooted away from the detached door.

"Super powers." Tony breathed before smiling immensely. "God, Pepper, you have no idea how turned on I am right now."

Pepper shook her head at him. "So, what, these nano-thingies are giving me super powers?"

Bruce looked away from the microscope and shrugged. "In a way, yes, but in a very technical way, they're actually giving your muscular structure the boost it needs to perform unthinkable tasks, such as lifting heavy objects." He gestured towards the door.

"But the door ins't even heavy." Pepper gave a furrowed look.

"Well, that goes without saying." Bruce tried to tell her. "What I mean is that, we rely on our muscles to do everyday tasks; opening doors, lifting objects, and even sharpening pencils. These nanobots are merely giving you a certain benefit."

Pepper sighed. "So when I want to do anything in general, these nanobots are going to give me a 'boost'?"

"My hypothesis is, is that they're completely controllable." Bruce tried to reassure her. "With practice, you might be able to control how they act. It's your body; they're just merely tools."

"And when I do sharpen a pencil…"

"At this stage, you'll probably accidentally shove the whole entire pencil in the machine, thus making the machine launch itself into the air, and crashing into the nearest object, which will most likely make a huge dent, or just keep crashing into things until it stops." The doctor replied with a small smile.

Tony blinked a few times. "What if she can't control these things?"

Bruce began to sigh. "There are too many variables to incorporate into that scenario."

"We actually don't know if these things can destroy her from the inside out." Tony shifted his gaze between his girlfriend and the scientist. "Sure, they're giving her muscular tissue a boost, and probably doing unspeakable things to her molecular structure, but what if they start eating at her?"

"Well…" Bruce gave a displeasing look. "…You have a point."

"Yes, this is very, very cool, but I'm more worried about her safety here." Tony turned his head to gaze at Pepper. "I know you're probably more than freaked out, but we need to get those things out of you."

"Wait, so I don't get a say in this?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. Did she actually want to keep these things in her body? It made her feel like she was able to do anything. That feeling of success and not having to worry about anything that could harm her gave her a smidge of hope. Half of her wanted to keep these things for the sake of her own well being, but the idea of it destroying her from the inside said otherwise.

Tony narrowed his eyes at her in shock. "You actually want to keep these things in your body?"

"Well…" Pepper slightly shrugged. "It kind of feels nice."

"Pepper…" Tony knew the feeling of power, and how good it felt, but he wasn't about ready to let Pepper let those things possibly destroy her.

"Hear me out." She tried to tell him. "I could actually do some good. You don't have to worry about my safety. I could probably help you guys on a mission… or something."

"No." Tony responded without a beat; he began to shake his head. "I know that feeling, Pepper; the feeling of being able to do anything… the feeling of a god. It isn't worth all this trouble. And if it does end up killing you…" His eyes turned a softer shade of brown, as if he were trying hard not to think about the consequences.

She looked at him with a gloomy expression and sighed. He was right. The feeling of being this powerful would eventually get to her head. Later along the road, it might even cloud her judgment.

"Fine." She mumbled.

"The real question is," Bruce paused, narrowing his eyes at Pepper. "How exactly do we get those things out of her?"

Tony pressed his lips together. "Well, it's certainly not impossible."

"I'm sure if I can get a current blood sample, I can get to work on the antidote as soon as possible." The doctor looked between the two.

Pepper looked completely shot down, almost as if she had just gotten rejected to join the Softball team. Even if she did keep her 'powers', her entire life could change. The way she'd run the company (if she could still run the company in her condition), and just her life style in general would be altered. She wasn't even sure how she'd handle her relationship with Tony and their habitual ways of affection.

"How long do you think it would take to create a cure?" Pepper curiously asked.

"With Bruce's speedy brain, I place my bets on a day." Tony beamed at Pepper, and then at Bruce.

Bruce chuckled in flattery. "Um, probably a little over a day – it depends on how complicated things get." He gestured towards the unattached door. "And right now, it's a whole mess of complications."

"Hopefully Fury won't get mad when he finds out about the door." Tony took a gander at the damage.

"He bought that story about the rats, didn't he?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. Tony could only chuckle in response.

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:) Let me know your thoughts through a review! Every single review lets Tony kiss Pepper - Oh, right in the feels!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews guys! Unfortunately, I move back into an apartment for college summer classes. So, availability may have been compromised.**

**Super power #2!**

_**Note: I am not an expert on human biology or nanotechnology.**_

**Disclaimer: Super power #2 is based off of Extremis. Stan Lee is a god. A video was released yesterday revealing the new life of Robert Downey Jr and Susan Downey. Dear god, i thought i'd never stop crying. Those two are just too perfect for each other!**

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Pepper was back on the metallic table. Things managed to calm down moments after the situation with the door. She wasn't entirely on board with getting the nanobots removed from her system, but the thought of them destroying her from the inside made her think otherwise. She looked down at her perfectly shaped nails, and then she looked down at her light colored skin. Underneath that skin were millions of infinitesimal microscopic bots that gave her super strength. She gripped the edge of the table a bit using very little pressure. The scrunching sound of the metal underneath her hand rang throughout her ears. When she lifted her hand, the edges of the table were dented; the spot where her fingers were, were clearly visible.

Bruce left to the other room to get a fresh needle. Tony opted to stay close to Pepper, just in case if anything else happened. He didn't want to leave her side, especially when everything was collapsing all at once. He was in front of the detached door, his eyes were gazing down at the piece of wood. His gaze then traveled to Pepper. He noticed how curious she looked when she stared at her hands.

"You okay?" He almost whispered.

Pepper head immediately shot up. "Yeah." She tried to smile but found it hard to do so.

He heavily sighed and walked over to the table. He noticed how slightly she scooted over; he wasn't sure if she did that because she was scared of hurting him, or if it was just out of politeness.

"You sure?" He asked again.

"Yes, Tony. I'm pretty sure I'm okay after I completely took the door out." She said sarcastically, and gave him a small smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her and tried not to smile back. "Sarcasm." He noted. "Is that a yes, or a no?"

She breathed a laugh and dipped her head a bit. "I'm fine. I'm just not…" She paused for a moment, before gazing at him. His eyes were noticeably softer. "…I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel right now."

Tony nodded to himself. "That's understandable. Every little boy's dream just happened to you in a matter of hours."

"I'm just getting mixed feelings." She shrugged.

"Imagine if you had those bots in your system during_ that_ time of the month." He chuckled to himself, whilst Pepper narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "I'd have to wear the Iron Man suit for a week to avoid getting killed."

"You're incorrigible." She spat back with a huff.

"Only for you, babe." He brushed his forearm against her thigh, making Pepper shake her head with a grin.

Bruce walked into the room with a fresh long tube with a needle, attached to a rather small machine. Pepper glanced at the machine and pressed her lips together. She gave blood plenty of times, so she wasn't particularly afraid; she only shifted in her spot. Tony, on the other hand, moved as far as he could away from the machine. Bruce noticed his immediate distance and particularly looked at him.

"Afraid of needles?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at him.

"No—" Tony tried to tell him.

"Deathly." Pepper sweetly smiled.

"I'm not _deathly_ afraid of them… they're just a little too pointy." Tony bit the inside of his cheek.

"You'd think a guy with a magnet in his chest wouldn't be afraid of needles." Bruce chuckled before wetting a small cotton swab.

"Exactly what I told him." Pepper glanced at her boss and saw his eyes roll.

"Okay." Bruce began to swipe the swab along the inside of her elbow. "Try not to destroy anything when I put the needle in."

Pepper chuckled. "I'll try not to."

"Bruce gets attached to some things." Tony chimed in and gestured towards the metallic table she sat on.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at him. "It's a comfortable table."

The doctor bent down with the needle, and just the sight of that huge point needle made Tony look away. He began to admire the well painted room with its popcorn texture, and, what looked like, eggshell white walls. When he heard a ping, he assumed it was just the machine making the noise, but when he heard Pepper gasp, he curiously turned around.

"Wow." Bruce's eyes were wide. His gaze was on Pepper's arm.

Tony followed his gaze. "What the…"

"Tony!" She gasped. Her arm was covered in something that looked a lot like Tony's Mark 2 armor. It was hard, cool to the touch, and grey. "What is this?" She practically shouted.

Bruce pushed the needle and the machine to the side. Tony leaned in towards Pepper's shaking arm. His rough calloused fingers delicately held her wrist in place as he inspected the sprouting metallic armor. It amazed her how gentle Tony could be with her. His rough fingers would glide perfectly across her soft skin every single time. It almost made her blush.

"It looks like…" Tony narrowed his eyes. "Titanium alloy."

"What?" Bruce furrowed his eyebrows at the armor.

"What?" Pepper nearly shrieked. "Did you just say titanium alloy? How—How did it even get there."

"When I looked at it, it seemed to just sprout out of nowhere." Bruce began to shrug. He almost looked flustered.

Tony pressed his lips together and gave him a sour look. "Titanium alloy doesn't just magically sprout out of nowhere."

"Um… Tony!" Pepper shrieked again. Tony looked up at her in confusion and then down at her arm. The titanium alloy was slowly seeping back into her skin, as if it were made of liquid. It almost looked like it was disappearing.

"What in the world…" Tony breathed with furrowed eyebrows. He carefully observed as the hardened titanium alloy that was just on top of her arm, slowly dissolved, and slipped back into her skin, as if it were absorbing it. "That's freaky."

"What in the hell just happened?" Pepper breathed shakily. She honestly felt indifferent about what just happened. First it was super strength, and then all of a sudden, titanium allow seeps out of her skin? It was definitely not a good day for her. She didn't want to tremendously freak out, so she counted on short breaths to calm her down.

"Um… the nanobots…" Bruce tried to tell her, but nothing more came out of his mouth.

Tony didn't look up from her arm. "I think they're feeding liquid titanium alloy through your pores."

"That's…" Bruce stopped short. He wasn't sure how to describe what Tony said. It was cool, but then again, it was very uncanny.

"So, what, I have titanium alloy growing out of my body?" She narrowed her eyes with a disgusted look. Now was the appropriate time to freak out.

"Seems like it." Tony gazed up at her. "Thankfully, it's non-toxic."

"Oh, yay for me." Pepper sarcastically added with a fake smile.

"You're like a walking Iron Man suit." He began to smile. "This is amazing."

"Yeah, well, it's not so amazing right now." Bruce added. "Those nanobots that are feeding that stuff through your pores are in the way of an appropriate blood sample." He heavily sighed and massaged his forehead with his fingers.

"What in the hell is going on in here?" Fury's voice boomed throughout the room.

All heads turned towards the doorway. Director Fury was in his standard issued SHIELD clothing, and accompanied by Maria Hill, whom was carefully behind him. Maria's eyebrows were furrowed, and Fury looked absolutely pissed.

The director glanced down at the door and then up at the three of them. He raised an eyebrow, expecting an immediately explanation.

Tony's eyes went wide, as if he had just been caught making out with Pepper on the porch. "It was rats." He suddenly said.

Bruce and Pepper both began to roll their eyes. Tony was never the best liar when it came to excuses on the spot, and she personally knew that fact.

…

"Please tell me why I shouldn't banish you both from the laboratory and all the lab equipment." Fury scolded the two of them.

They were inside the sealed debriefing rooms. In the room was a big huge round table. In the center of the table was a holographic display panel that was used to elaborate on their mission tactics. Tony and Bruce were sitting next to each other. Fury, on the other hand, was standing on the other side of the table with his arms crossed against his chest.

"Because that would be mean, and you're against bullying." Tony spoke softly, trying not to make eye contact.

"Most of my experiments are to help the team, Director Fury. It would be pointless to keep me from my obligations." Bruce spoke up.

"Suck up." Tony mumbled under his breath, loud enough for the doctor to hear. Bruce turned his head and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Just to make things a bit clearer around here," Fury paused. Tony was quite certain he could see a thick vein pulse along his forehead. "Miss Potts, your girlfriend," he pointed at Tony. "Has nanotechnology inside her system. And you guys were trying to cure her, but titanium alloy that suddenly seeped through her pores won't let you."

"Sounds correct." Tony nodded casually.

"And on top of all that nonsense," Fury's voice suddenly got louder. The words 'pissed off' wouldn't begin to describe how he felt. "She also has super strength – oh and all of this jibber jabber is because of some unknown _thing_ that bit her. And worst of all, she broke my door."

"It could easily be repaired." Tony scratched the back of his head; he wasn't sure what else could be said to lighten the mood. Bruce pressed his lips together and slowly looked up at Fury.

"Doctor Banner." Fury called out.

"Yes, sir?"

"I want you to go to the lab and clean up. Call the technicians on the top level to repair the door." He ordered the doctor.

Bruce nodded, and before he left the room, he glanced back at Tony in reassurance. It wasn't like Fury was going to bite his head off or anything, but that sudden vein on his forehead said something entirely different.

"Stark."

Tony looked up at him with his eyebrows furrowed. At this stage, he wasn't sure if Fury was going to throw the table, or the eye patch, at him.

"The rarity level of this situation is pretty damn high, wouldn't you think?"

"When Pepper can control the nanobots, we could whip up a quick antidote, and put all of this stuff behind us." He tried to tell Fury, but he wasn't buying any of it.

"And how long with that take?" Fury waited for Tony to say something, but he didn't. "That could take weeks, months— years even."

"Mm…" Tony hummed to himself. "It depends on the person, really."

"Stark, do you realize what just happened?"

"Sex with Pepper just got kinky?" He jokingly said before raising his eyebrows.

"Those nanobots just gave Miss Potts superhuman powers." He angrily looked at Tony. "Do you know how hard and desperate the government is trying to achieve that? If word gets out about this, they _will_ take her away, and they _will_ use her as a lab rat."

Tony pressed his lips together in anger. "I won't let them do that to her."

"Tell me then – how are you going to prevent that? Are you going to go knocking on their door step with a fruit basket that says 'No'?"

"Certainly not a bad idea."

Fury rolled his eyes and huffed. "This is the United States government, Stark. You know, as well as I do, that they will do anything to get ahead in military arsenal. And your girlfriend just became superhuman in a matter of hours through unimaginable and unexplainable nanotechnology."

"So what are you going to do, give her to the government so they can pick her apart?" Tony angrily looked up at him.

Fury looked down at Tony in a solemn look. He knew how much Pepper meant to him, and he knew that he'd do anything to keep her safe.

"Seeing as how her own body won't let you create an antidote, I'll need to talk with the council." Fury told him.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and anger. "Why are you even spitting them information? I thought you hated them."

"I do." Fury admitted. "But they're at a higher podium than I am, and even though of they're horrible assholes with stupid ass decisions, I have no choice." He walked towards the exit of the room. His footsteps rang in Tony's ears.

Tony tried his best to think of something to say – something to save Pepper from becoming a lab experiment. "The Capt is a super human soldier. Why does he get to stay but not Pepper?"

Fury turned from the door, and looked at the back of Tony's head. "Because the experiment on Steve Rogers was actually legal."

"So, you're calling Pepper an illegal immigrant?" Tony turned around to gaze up at Fury.

He was honestly fed up with all of Tony's silly antics and immature ways of dealing with serious situations. "What are you trying to tell me, Stark?"

"Recruit Pepper as an Avenger." Tony suddenly blurted. When he saw Fury's raised eyebrow, he continued, "Just for now – just until she can control that stuff and we can flush it out of her system."

"Do you realize what you're asking me to do?" Fury asked him.

"It's not like I'm asking you to build an Amusement Park in my name – but if you want to, I'm totally on board." Tony joked.

"You want _me_," Fury pointed to himself. "To recruit Miss Potts as an Avenger, and lie to the council?"

"The council doesn't have to know about this." Tony shrugged. "What they don't know won't hurt them."

"If this goes horribly wrong, Stark, it'll do more than hurt them. We're talking about nanotechnology here. Do you know how a breakthrough in technology like this will do for the world?" Fury's tone was higher than expected, but it was understandable considering how much had happened in the past few hours.

Tony looked at him in the eye and calmly told him, "You know how much I care about Pepper. I'll rip everyone apart before they could touch her."

Fury ultimately shook his head. "I'll think about it."

…

Tony noticed a palm like dent in the doorknob of the door that led to his room. He smiled slightly and shook his head before entering. Pepper was on top of his bed. Her back was against the headboard as she hugged her legs to her chest. She looked indifferent and somewhat scared.

"I see you've greeted the doorknob." He joked before closing the door behind him.

Pepper looked up at him and pressed her lips together. "Do you know how long it took me to open the damn thing without damaging it?"

"You didn't ask someone to do it for you?" He walked over to the walk-in closet before taking his black cotton shirt off. He grabbed a white one and looped it over his head.

"You told me that I'd be able to control them." She glanced at him, trying hard not to ogle his cute butt. "And that's what I _tried_ to do."

"Mmmm." He hummed in response before slipping on a pair of knee high length gym shorts. He closed the closet door and noticed her change in clothes. She went from a white blouse, and a pair of black pants, to a black tank top and a red pair of short shorts. "How did you manage to change?"

She began to groan. "Don't even get me started on how long it took me to open the closet and change clothes." He chuckled at her and went over to his glass encased Iron Man suit on the other side of the room. He drew out a security panel and pressed a few buttons to make sure everything was in check.

Pepper pressed her lips together. "What did Director Fury say?"

"He said if word got out to the council and the government, they'd love having you has an experiment to aid the future of the military." He heavily sighed.

"What?" She narrowed her eyes and gasped. "A-And you're okay with this?"

"No." He sternly told her. "I told him I'd rather smack the council in the face."

"So, what's going to happen to me?" She curiously and shakily asked.

"I told Fury to lie to the council, and recruit you as an Avenger." He told her before sliding the panel back into place. He turned around before continuing, "That way, when you do get control of these nanobots, we can get to work on an antidote."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "How exactly is Director Fury going to _lie_ to the council?"

"He has to have something up that eye patch of his. I'm sure he's lied to them plenty of times." He began to walk over to her to join her on the bed. The response she gave him wasn't quite what he expected.

She hugged her legs closer to her chest and scooted away, as if he were a terrifying spider. She shook her head before he could give her a questioning look.

"What's wrong?" He worriedly asked her.

"You shouldn't…" She shook her head again.

"Shouldn't what?"

She sighed and continued to scoot away. "You shouldn't be near me."

"Why?" He continued to join her on the bed, but stopped at the edge of the frame when he noticed how worried she looked.

"I don't want to end up hurting you, Tony." She softly told him. It was almost too painful to look up at him. "Everything I touch literally gets smashed."

He slightly furrowed her eyebrows at her before sighing. In a few seconds, he had already crawled under the sheets. Her worries and doubts in her ability to control her super strength scared her, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. In the back of her mind lingered the aching possibility of being responsible for accidentally killing him, no thanks to her new found powers.

She almost gasped when she felt his hand caress her shin.

Pepper turned her head and stared at him with wide eyes. His shiny brown hair was so close to her forehead, and his breath tickled her nose. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers before kissing her softly. Pepper's arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, and began to play with the hairs on the back of his head.

When he pulled away, he watched her speechless expression. She bit her bottom lip to savor the taste of him.

"See?" He said with a wide grin. "You didn't hurt me."

She grinned back, still playing with his hair, and lowered her head to bury her face in between his neck and shoulder. She endearingly gave him a soft, yet brief, hug.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are optional, but the muse loves them.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the delay!**

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Marvel**

**Read and Enjoy!**

* * *

Tony walked into the conference room with an exhausted expression on his face. Bruce was in front of the wall projector looking at the first blood sample he got from Pepper. He had Steve Rogers go down to level two and tell Tony that he wanted to see him. He heard Tony's footsteps in the conference room, and then the sound of the door closing.

Tony looked up at the projector with raised eyebrows. "You rang, Doc?" He playfully asked.

"How's Pepper doing?" Bruce responded. He turned around and flashed a small smile.

Tony shrugged. "She's fine. She's got the super strength down, but that titanium armor is a tough egg to crack."

Bruce nodded. "That's good."

Tony noticed how edgy the doctor was and ultimately sighed in response. Whenever Bruce was itching to ask something, or talk about something, he would shift in his position and try to look away. "I know you didn't call me up here to have a tea party, Bruce."

Bruce gritted his teeth together. "Ehhh…." He hissed.

"C'mon. Use those big boy words we've been practicing." Tony jokingly said with a wide grin. "You can do it."

"Did Director Fury talk to you this morning?" Bruce practically blurted out.

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah, why?"

"What was it about?"

"Whoa," Tony paused and held a hand up. "I'm not the type of person to kiss and tell, Dr. Green Beans."

Bruce became even more anxious. He pointed up at the projector with his index finger. He looked more worried than anxious now. "Director Fury approached me in the laboratory today."

"He wants you to observe the old blood sample?" Tony confusingly asked.

Bruce paused. "He wants me to create an antidote from it."

Tony widened his eyes. "Is that even possible?"

Bruce looked at the projector and pressed his lips together. "It's not impossible, if that's what you're asking. The nanobots aren't evolving as fast as we thought. It's like that tissue reconstruction the nanobots we were looking at were doing. The one in Pepper's bloodstream are acting with her body, not on their own. Given the proper amount of time, I can probably whip up something."

"But what about that titanium casing those nanobots are feeding through her skin?" Tony asked the doctor; he folding his arms across his chest in curiosity.

"That's _one_ of the problems." Bruce noted with a frown.

"_One_?" Tony asked in surprise. "There's more than one?"

"The nanobots are reacting to her nerves combined with her instincts." Bruce crossed his arms. "Those things won't let anything harm her unless she can control it."

Tony already knew that part of the problem. He began to heavily sigh. "And the other problem?"

"The origin of this thing." Bruce pressed his lips together. Tony looked at him with a cold stare. Neither one of them had brought it up since Pepper had talked about the 'bug bite' she received. Something wasn't right about that situation, both of them knew that, but the consequences that come with the discovery made Tony shiver. He didn't want to see Pepper get hurt, especially from something that could go from safe to horribly wrong in a split second.

Bruce sighed. "I know you don't want to hear this, but whatever – or whoever – did this to her has to have some sort of purpose. There's no way this randomly happened to her."

"I know." Tony nodded with an unpleasing tone. "But we need to approach this thing one step at a time. We can worry about where this thing came from _after_ we know Pepper is safe."

Bruce looked at Tony with a curious expression. He could see the amount of pressure weighing on his shoulders. He wondered, at what great lengths would Tony sustain to keep Pepper safe? The thought had brushed his mind more than once, and no doubt, if he had actually asked Tony, he would tell him he'd do anything for her.

The doctor nodded once, and began to smile. "So, is Pepper an Avenger now?"

Tony instantly breathed a laugh. "Fury won't let her."

"So, I take it the council is okay with keeping her on board until everything is under control?" Bruce raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Tony scratched his forehead with his index finger. "They're not entirely okay with it. Fury makes it sound they spanked him for being such a bad boy, or something."

Bruce pressed the side of his hand to his mouth to hold his laugh back.

"Fury said the council won't take drastic measures unless forced to." Tony told the doctor whilst rolling his eyes.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning the council doesn't want to splash in the same kiddie pool as us until we get noodle floaters." He said with his signature joking tone.

"Noodle floaters?" Bruce furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Tony almost gasped. "You've never had them when you were a kid?"

"What are they?"

Tony shook his head at him. "You know what; I'll get you a twelve pack of them from Walmart for your next birthday."

Bruce smiled a bit. "So, Pepper isn't an Avenger?"

"Nope." He frowned. "And I was so looking forward to putting her through the initiation."

"We have an initiation?" Bruce gave Tony a curious look.

He rolled his eyes at him. "Not _that_ kind of initiation." He sexually implied.

Bruce widened his eyes once the rest clicked in his mind. He looked away, almost as if he were embarrassed. "Oh."

"Fury says Pepper has been marked as a scientific experiment by the council, and will be called as such until cured, but I refuse to call her that. So, right now, we're just going to call her by her proper name." Tony notified him.

"…Which would be Pepper." Bruce questioningly said before giving him a puzzled look.

"I was thinking more along the lines of Property-of-Tony-Stark, but Pepper works too." Tony jokingly added with a wide grin.

Bruce beamed at him and breathed a laugh. "Pepper would kick your ass if she heard you say that."

"She already bruised my bottom down on level two. Thankfully, her super strength didn't dent the Mark Seven." Tony said with a small smile. "Speaking of Pepper, I left her alone to spar with the Flag Captain," He turned to exit the conference room. "I hope to god she kicked his ass."

Bruce smirked as he watched him leave the room. He looked up at the projector and noticed the whimsical movements of the nanobots. It was almost a waste to see such nanotechnology go to waste. The scientific side of him wanted to keep them for further research, but the Avenger side of him knew he had to get rid of them. And then there was the mystery about the origin of it. Who was smart enough to create this type of nanotechnology? It was baffling what mind, or minds, could've produced this.

…

Tony walked down the stairs to level two in a quick pace. If there was even the slightest chance he got to watch Pepper take down Captain America, he'd be there in a flash. He opened the door to the practice area that was specifically designed for the Avengers, and noticed Steve standing there with his back to the door.

Tony began to sigh. "Please don't tell me Pepper already kicked your ass. Damn, I missed it." He frowned. Tony walked up to Steve and stood beside him; he noticed his gaping mouth. Tony furrowed his eyebrows at him. "I swear to god, if you're ogling my girlfriend, I'll turn your shield into a Churro maker—" He slowly turned his head to the open area and abruptly stopped.

Tony's eyes went wide as the scene in front of him unfolded. A flash of black passed him more than once. His hair flew in the same director, and when Pepper stopped in front of him, his mouth nearly fell open.

Pepper was grinning wildly at him in her black sweatpants, blue t-shirt, and tennis shoes. She almost couldn't contain her laughter as her mind just wrapped around the fact that she just discovered that she could run as fast as lightning.

"Super speed." Steve said with his mouth still wide open.

"Wha—" Drool began to leave Tony's mouth. "Oh my—"

"I know, right!" Pepper exclaimed with a wide grin. "This is so cool!"

It was weird, Pepper reacted to the liquid titanium alloy and the super strength as if a spider had just crawled down her back, but the super speed was somewhat dazzling. It felt like water to her; the movements were fluid, and the motion of such incredible speed tantalized her taste buds. She enjoyed it a lot; she enjoyed the vast freedom of her new super power.

"And to think," Tony began to grin. "I'm actually dating you." He pumped his eyebrows at her. "Are you as turned on as I am?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"We were… um…" Steve began. "I threw my shield at her, and I expected the titanium suit to bounce it back, but it hit the wall behind her and she disappeared."

"Faster than the speed of light." Tony mumbled with a smile. He crossed his arms across his chest; he couldn't contain the excited seven year old boy inside him.

Pepper began to frown. "But I still can't control the nanobots. They're not exactly a woman's best friend."

"Well, you've nailed your super strength down, and I'm guessing the super speed really isn't that hard to control." Tony noted, his gaze riding up and down her body.

"Are you sure I can't keep these things?" Pepper almost pouted.

Tony shook his head. "As much as it's really turning me on – no, you can't." He heard her heavily sigh. "Pepper, I _want_ you to keep these things. We could keep the world safe together, but these things are like ticking time bombs. If they're feeding titanium alloy through your skin, there's no telling what else they could do."

She pressed her lips together and gave him a sorrow expression.

Steve gaze shifted between the two of them. He looked up at Pepper and noticed that familiar look. When he was injected with that super soldier serum, he had to adapt to his new body without question. His new body gave him the option to save tons of innocent lives, and sometimes much more than that. He noticed how quickly Pepper had adapted. The thought of going back to being a regular stick in the mud shattered his universe; having to go back to being a regular Joe would be devastating.

"I'm going to go and tell Bruce about this. Maybe he can explain how these nanobots are doing this." Tony quickly said before backing out of the room. Pepper couldn't help as he completely stared at her in amazement. He pointed at her with his index finger and sexily looked at her, "We're going to do something about all this tonight, okay?"

She breathed a laugh. "What ever you say, Boss." She watched as he left the room.

"You really want to keep these powers." Steve noted.

Pepper gazed up at him and slowly nodded. "But I can't."

"It must be hard to even think about it." He mumbled, gazing down at her.

"Think about what?" Pepper knew what he was talking about. She just wasn't sure she was actually thinking about it herself.

"In the near future, or when you can control the bots, these super powers will be gone. You'll be a regular woman working hard for Stark's company. You'll be answering phone calls, taking regular transportation, and asking Stark to open a jar of salsa for you." He noticed her sorrowing expression deepen. "I know how you feel."

"Did you ever wonder how you'd feel if you weren't a super soldier anymore?" She curiously asked him, trying to hide her sadness.

He nodded with compassion. "Yes." He tried to smile. "I don't know what I'd do. Being a regular guy doesn't really suit my tastes anymore."

"You don't have to worry about me, Steve. I know these things are dangerous." She tried to tell him with a small smile.

He wasn't buying it. "I know _you_ know that these things are dangerous, but it doesn't change the thought that you might not want to get rid of them. Letting go of something this valuable is hard."

"I'm not going to betray Tony's wishes, if that's what you're trying to say."

Steve sighed. "I just don't want to see you make the wrong decision."

He watched her walk to the center of the room, ready to give another go at controlling the nanotechnology swimming in her body. "I know." She simply replied before relaxing her muscles.

…

The man walked into his apartment with a small smile. As he turned in the lights, all of his lab equipment, wall decorations of small newspaper and magazine clippings of nanotechnology, and a few pictures of his family were illuminated. He walked over to his computer and typed in a few lines of command codes.

"Progress check." He said out loud.

"Procedure is at one hundred percent." The computer responded back to him with a deep animated voice. "Proceed to final phase?"

The man reached over to the table next to him and flicked on one of the devices. Green lights flickered on at the same time. The computer spoke again, "Final phase in progress: Thirty hours in counting"

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	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello all! Here's that chapter for you! Happy belated 4th of July for those in the US. ;)**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Marvel. Even the bowl of ice cream in front of me.**

**Read and enjoy!**

* * *

"Wow, super speed?" Bruce asked with wide eyes; his voice lost in his throat. He didn't think the nanobots would give her super speed since such a thing, even with them attached to her muscular tissue, couldn't give her such a power.

Tony and Bruce were in the laboratory. Around Bruce was a bunch of lab equipment connected to projectors that showcased the very blood sample that he was trying to analyze.

"There's got to be some kind of explanation." Tony gasped.

"I'm thinking." Bruce replied quickly. He cupped his chin with his hand, trying to think of the various possibilities. After a few seconds, he pointed at Tony with his index finger. "There is one possibility."

"It's not the bots doing something to her muscular tissue?" Tony asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Kind of." Bruce walked over to one of the projectors that showed an enhanced image of one of the nanobots. "I found two kinds of nanobots in the blood sample. There are these," he pointed to the dark grey colored nanobot. "And these." He went over to the next nanobot that was a lighter shade of grey.

"The difference being?" Tony's gaze shifted between the two projectors.

"The dark grey one is feeding titanium alloy through her skin. And I'm guessing the light grey ones are feeding her muscular tissue some sort of chemicals." The doctor furrowed his eyebrows up at the projectors.

Tony's ears perked up when he said chemicals. "Wait, chemicals? So they're not toxic?"

"Whatever these nanobots are feeding her, I think they're also protecting her from it." Bruce paused to bask in the presence of such marvelous technology. "Whoever designed this nanotechnology did a really, really great job."

"What's this?" A voice behind them suddenly boomed throughout the laboratory.

Tony and Bruce turned around to see Pepper standing there. It was clear to the both of them that she had used her super speed. She looked more confused than ever. All the lab equipment had her eyes scanning the entire room.

"Uh," Bruce paused. "It's the blood sample I took."

"Are…" Pepper paused; she gave a disgusting look. "Are these things inside of me?"

"Yep." Tony responded with a small nod. "Bruce thinks the light grey ones are stimulating your muscular tissue with chemicals which is giving you super speed."

"Chemicals!" Pepper squeaked with wide eyes. "So, I'm going to die?"

"I think the nanobots are protecting your body from the toxicity. They're like multitasking super nannies." Bruce responded with a small smile, one that made Pepper give back a lopsided smile.

"Bruce is trying to make an antidote from the original blood sample." Tony informed her with a small smile.

Pepper's heart faintly leaped in her chest; a tiny part of her told her to smash the blood sample, but the other larger part told her not to be selfish. She looked down at the vile that contained her blood and almost reached out to it, but Tony's voice snapped her out of it.

"Pepper?" He asked, he moved next to her. Pepper blinked several times before responding to him.

"Huh?" She asked before gazing at him.

"I asked how training is going." He repeated with a worried look. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She paused, her voice almost gave a hint of panic. "Um, training is fine."

"Any progress?" He asked as he began to rub her back with his hand. She relaxed under his touch with a low sigh.

"None that's worth noting." She gave him a lopsided smile.

"Tomorrow is another day." He squeezed her hip in reassurance.

Bruce's gaze fell on the two whom were both lost in each other's presence. The doctor knowingly cleared his throat before continuing. Pepper was the one to break the trance; her head turned to face Bruce.

"Um, I sent Natasha to pick up a few things for this antidote. This cure isn't going to be an easy one." Bruce informed them.

"You realize I could run to my apartment and back in five minutes flat?" Pepper spoke up with a wide grin. "I could feed my cat, fetch some of the paper work I have waiting—Oh shoot!" She suddenly cursed. "I had to call Research and Development back today. What time is it?" She gently grabbed Tony's wrist and held it up. "Oh god, five o'clock." Without another word, she zipped out of the laboratory, causing all the papers in the laboratory to scatter upwards. Tony stood there with a flat expression.

Both of them watched as all of the papers fell to the floor. Bruce grimaced. "Should I tell Natasha to pick up a few paper weights as well?"

"That would be a good idea." Tony nodded.

…

"Final phase in progress: Twenty-one hours in counting."

…

Pepper sat on the bed with her calves underneath the sheets. She was on her phone, tying away, and trying not to give way too much pressure or else she'd crush the small device in a heartbeat. Tony entered the room with a large sigh. He ran his hand through his hair and glanced at the beautiful sight on his bed.

It was as if nothing had changed. Pepper was busying herself with his company's work, and he was returning from a long day of working on the suit, or playing with the various toys he had lying around. It was the perfect picture that begged to be framed, but that wasn't even a choice. He frowned at the thought of having to take away her powers, but he kept reminding himself that it had to be done. _For her own safety_, he mentally told himself.

"Hey." She greeted him without looking up from her device.

"Hi." He smiled back. "What'cha doing?" He asked playfully before flopping on the spot beside her.

She grinned at the feel of the bed bouncing, and turned to look at him. "Answering your e-mails."

"Anything exciting?" He asked. He rested his cheek against her shoulder and looked down at her phone. "Oh," He skimmed the contents. "The Annual Midnight Gala. We're going."

She began to laugh. "I don't think so."

"What, why not?" He pouted with a deep frown.

"Because I don't want to end up going alone _again_ this year." She responded, her fingers pressed against the keyboard to move on to the next e-mail.

"But you won't be. I'll be there."

"You said that last time." She reminded him. "Right before Director Fury called you."

"He's like a cat." He felt her breath a laugh. "He won't leave me alone."

"You're a super hero, Tony. It's your duty to do what Director Fury says." She reminded him, with a lopsided smile.

"But you're my first duty. Heh," He laughed. "I said doo-dee." He rubbed his palm against her thigh as a wide grin spread across his lips.

"A super hero that acts like a six year-old." She paused to skim an e-mail. "How did I get so lucky?"

He grimaced at her comment. "I'm not always immature."

"Would you like me to answer that with real life examples?" She grinned at him before returning to her phone. He groaned at her question and snaked his arm across her stomach. He couldn't help but grin when he felt her squirm.

He paused for a moment and noticed how relaxed her posture was. It was as if the last couple days hadn't even happened. She seemed calm, and ready to take on whatever tasks awaited for. "Pepper."

"Hmm?" She hummed whilst on her Blackberry.

"Do you remember how freaked out you were about…" His hand went in circles. "…all this?"

She stopped what she was doing and slowly nodded before turning her head to face him. "Yes." She said in a whisper; her gaze firmly holding his.

"Well, ha." He faked a laugh. "That was two days ago, of course you do." His serious expression returned. The silence between them lingered for a good few seconds before he continued. He didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with her, especially before bed time. Tony loved bed time, but only when Pepper is involved. "I'm proud of you."

She stared at him with narrow eyes, unsure of his motives, or to where the conversation was going. "Thanks, dad?" She jokingly said with a small smile.

He grinned at her response. "You're a tough woman to crack, Miss Potts. I thought that board meeting with eighty attendees you forgot about was going to make you explode, but here you are, dealing with superhuman powers. I'm proud how you're handling things."

She slightly nodded. Her hands were resting on her lap with her Blackberry on standby. When she felt his hand gently splay itself on her palm, her heart nearly leaped. She wasn't sure if it was because Tony was being especially affectionate, or because something had been bugging her since the very beginning.

"Tony?" She murmured.

"Hm?" He hummed back, tangling their hands together. His gaze intently admired her petite hands.

"One hypothetical question, I'd like to ask." She held his gaze firmly, as if looking for approval.

"Shoot." He responded with a small grin.

"If you knew these bots were safe—" She stopped to watch his reaction. His eyes closed as a sigh left his mouth. He already knew where this was going. "What?"

"I already know where this is going." He sounded annoyed.

Her voice was tinted with anger. "Honestly, would you let me keep them?"

"Why do you want to keep these things so much?" He furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Are these powers _that_ important to you?"

"They're aren't important to me—"

He almost sounded angry. "Then _why_ do you want to keep them?"

She stared at him for a good minute, trying to conjure up the words to express her feelings. She didn't feel like the powers were important to her; it was just the matter of how her prospective on life had changed after the incident. "Try seeing it from my prospective, Tony."

He furrowed her eyebrows at her. "Okay."

"What if you suddenly lost the knowledge to work the suit, to upgrade the suit – what if you lost the capability to think of such advanced technology? What if you suddenly became a regular average IQ American?"

"You mean…" He paused, the thought of such a thing happening to him made his mouth dry. "…What if everything was taken away from me?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Even you?" His brown puppy dog eyes made her heart flutter. He didn't give her the chance to answer his question. "I… I don't know."

"The suit means everything to you." She squeezed his hand.

"It gives me a sense of—"

"Purpose." She finished with a determined expression.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that what this is all about… purpose?"

"It's not just about that, Tony." She exasperated.

"Then what else? Does it feel like I'm crowding you with all this Iron Man stuff, because I can turn it down a few notches." He tried to comprise with her. He began to mumble to himself. "And here I thought the suit was turning you on."

Pepper tried not to smile at the last bit. Instead, she bit her bottom lip. "You're not overwhelming me with Iron Man. It's the fact that you treat me like I'm not capable of taking care of myself."

He raised an eyebrow. "And yet you nag me to go to bed, eat something, and shower on a daily basis."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You know what I mean."

"I don't treat you like a damsel in distress every single second." He pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes.

"What about that incident on July 4th?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

"There was fire, Pep. Lots of it."

"I was a girl scout before, Tony. I know how to put a fire out." She huffed. "What about that time Bruce gave me that weird blue vile to hold?"

"Dangerous chemicals." He simply responded.

"And the lady bug that flew into the house?"

"It looked poisonous and I'm pretty sure I saw fangs." He pressed his lips together and looked at her with caution. "Okay, so I'm a little protective." He shrugged.

"Tony, I'm surprised you even let me hold scissors around the house." She angrily added.

He heavily sighed. "Pepper, I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm trying to protect you as much as I can, for as long as I can." She stared at him intently. His voice was becoming frantic. "Because along the road, there will be some crazy people that will do anything to kill me, which also falls along the lines of hurting you in the process. And I don't want that to happen." He began to babble; he couldn't even bare to look at her in the eyes. His gaze was fixed on their joined hands. "I know it sounds like I'm trying to isolate you from every potentially dangerous thing, but—"

"Tony." She compassionately interjected. It was expected of him to act like this – she _expected_ this to happen when he had become Iron Man. The thought of how over protective he could be was pushed so far in the back of her mind that she thought of it merely as a habit.

He gazed up at her intensely.

"I understand." She merely replied in a low whisper.

He leaned in slowly, and gave her a small and longing kiss. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and kissed him back with a growing smile. When they broke apart, he couldn't help but grin at her.

"Yes." He nodded. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Yes, what?"

"If I knew these bots were safe, I would let you keep them. That way, we can upgrade from the plastic Hello Kitty scissors." He wildly smiled at her as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

She began to laugh. "But those are my favorite pair of scissors."

…

"Final phase in progress: Twenty hours in counting."

…

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**A/N: Can you believe it? This fic is actually almost done. I'd say at least three more chapters ought to do it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I realized how much time i've been putting into drawing Pepperony for my Tumblr, and thus noticed the lack of attention i've been giving my muse. Here's the next chapter for you! :)**

**Disclaimer: Nothing shalt be mine.**

**RANT: My friend recently told me about the extra ticket they have to Comic-con. Unfortunately, i can't go because my friends are driving down to stay with me and go to Disneyland. Yeah, i know. I'm giving up Comic-con for Disneyland... First world problems. :/ I just want to cry. I want that taco commercial girl to ask me, "Why not have both?". Sigh.**

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It was the next day. Both parties were working hard. Bruce was in the laboratory with five monitors hoisted and lined up at the other end of the room. Tony and Pepper were diligently working in the gym on floor two. They had been training for almost seven hours, with a few affectionate breaks in between. In that matter of time, Pepper's concentration got her as far as her arms. The bots didn't seem to allow her to go any further.

Frustration was building up fast from both ends.

Bruce walked over to the monitor and furrowed his eyebrows at one of the zoomed in nanobots.

"Hey." A voice came from the threshold.

Bruce turned his head and saw Captain America standing there with a small smile. Bruce could only smile back. "Steve."

"How is everything?" Steve walked into the laboratory with caution and slowly made his way towards the doctor.

"Better than expected, actually." He replied with a small nod.

"So, the antidote will be ready soon?" Steve raised an eyebrow with concern. He was casually dressed in a pair of jeans, a blue t-shirt, and a grey dress shirt. His hair was gelled and combed over, as usual.

"The antidote should be done in about two hours. And then after it's done, I'll need to test it." Bruce replied, his fingers slid multiple panels across the monitor in front of him.

"Hopefully Miss Potts will be ready soon."

"Hopefully." Bruce said with a nod. "Can you bring me that glass slate on the table next to my notes?" He pointed behind his shoulder.

"Sure." Steve replied soothingly. He grabbed the glass slate and took a quick glance at his notes. He wasn't sure what was scribbled on the top piece of paper, but there was something he didn't quite understand. "Hey."

"Hm?" Bruce hummed before turning his head to face the Captain.

"I thought you said there were two types of nanobots in her system." Steve gestured towards his notes.

Bruce took a second to respond. "Yes, there is."

"Then what's this red one?" Steve pointed at one of the pictures on his notes.

Bruce furrowed his eyebrows and walked over to his notes. He held up the piece of paper and noticed a red spot next to some of the dark and light grey bots. "Weird…"

"Weird?" Steve could feel his hand twitch. Scientific experiments always have surprises, and he wasn't very fond of them.

"When I skimmed this picture, I thought it was a blood cell. But it's a different shade a red, and its shape is different." Bruce said in observation. "Give me the sample."

Steve handed over the glass slate to Bruce and Bruce quickly ran over to one of the microscopes. He inserted the glass slate underneath two of the claws and carefully looked into the microscope. Steve watched from behind as he turned a few knobs back and forth.

"Can you give me one of the separators?" Bruce asked.

"Separators?" Steve fumbled, looking behind him to scan the metallic table.

"It should be on the table behind you, right next to the red vile." Bruce gestured towards the table.

Steve looked down at the table and noticed several tools and scientific equipment. "Man, this is like a horrible game of Where's Waldo, only Waldo is silver." He mumbled to himself. He shook his head in displeasure and grabbed a bunch of the tools.

When Bruce looked behind him, Steve stood there with at least ten different tools in his arms. He raised his eyebrow at the Captain.

"You can't expect me to know what a separator looks like without it being properly labeled." He simply responded.

Bruce breathed a laugh, rummaged through the pile and quickly found it. He turned around to look back into the microscope and used the separator to get a better look inside the ominous red nanobot.

Steve took the time to place the tools back down on the table in a neatly fashion.

"Oh no…" Bruce murmured with a shaky breath.

"What is it?" Steve asked without a beat. He was a Bruce's side in an instant.

Bruce looked back at his notes and then at the microscope. He looked up at the Captain with wide eyes, "Where is Pepper?"

"Uh," Steve tried to think quickly. "She's with Stark down in Level two."

"Get to them, now!" Bruce commanded. The doctor rushed over to the monitors and quickly made a few adjustments. He was working faster than lightning. Steve could only stand there and stare in confusion.

"Wha—"

"Shit!" Bruce cursed. "You need to get Pepper far away from Tony as possible."

"Why?" Steve quickly asked with a low tone; his Captain stance quickly becoming visible. "What's wrong?"

"There's no time to explain. Just go down to level two." Bruce quickly ushered him out. "I'll be right behind you."

Without anymore questions, Steve quickly ran out of the laboratory at full speed. Many of the SHIELD agents looked in confusion as the Captain whizzed past them.

…

"Okay." Tony said, trying to catch his breath. Pepper was sitting next to him with a sly smile on her lips. His arm was around her waist, pulling her in close. "We need to train."

Pepper laughed at him and rested her forehead against his shoulder. "You're the one that wanted to take a break."

"It looked like you needed it." He smiled down at her.

"I said I needed water, not a make-out session." She nudged him in the ribs.

He breathed a laugh. "It was a win-win situation. You got your water, and I got to make-out with you."

She shook her head at him and slowly, but steadily, stood up. She pushed the hem of her black t-shirt down and walked towards the middle of the gym. When she looked behind her, Tony was still sitting there with a grin.

She rolled her eyes at him. "C'mon, Tony."

"But I have such a nice view." Tony gestured towards her backside. Pepper narrowed her eyes at him; her glare immediately got him to rethink his decision. He held his hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay." He stood up in no time and walked over to Pepper.

He placed his arms on her shoulders and patted them once. "Okay, relax—"

"I know the drill, Tony." She interjected rather harshly.

Tony held his hands up again and backed away. "Yes, mam."

She smirked at his reaction to her blunt response, and slowly closed her eyes. She could hear the creaks of the helicarrier, and the light humming from the helicarrier's propellers. If she listened closely, she could hear the humming from Tony's RT. She almost thought she developed some sort of super hearing, but that thought quickly left her mind when she felt his hands on her waist.

She began to grin from ear to ear. He gently pressed his lips to the back of her neck.

"Relaxed yet?" He quickly whispered behind her ear, thus tickling it. Pepper let out a small laugh. "Concentrate."

"I can't do that when you're kissing me." She tried not to giggle.

He laughed and pressed another kiss to her shoulder. Pepper used all the strength she had to concentrate. Tony saw something out of the corner of his eye, and immediately looked down at her arms.

"They're working." He told her.

Pepper closed her eyes and tried to push it further. The nanobots slowly made it past her elbows, allowing Tony to yelp in surprise.

"They're almost to your shoulders." He said with excitement in his voice.

Tony watched in awe as the titanium alloy spread across her shoulders, along her back, and up to the brim of her neck. Pepper opened her eyes in fear as the event in front of her quickly escalated. Soon, her entire body was covered in the titanium alloy, even her face.

"Oh my god." Tony gasped. He released his hold on her waist and took a step back to observe the spectacle in front of him. He walked around her a few times and couldn't help but grin. "You did it." He began to laugh.

"Tony!" A strained voice came from the top of the stairs. Tony furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head to investigate. Steve ran down the stairs and was shouting something. Tony couldn't quite make it out.

It wasn't because Tony's hearing was getting worse. It wasn't due to the fact that his entire body was jolting in excitement. And it wasn't because he simply chose to ignore the Captain, like he usual does.

He couldn't concentrate on the words that were coming out of Steve's mouth because something wrapped around his neck and lifted him up.

Before he could even react, his turned his head and stared in shock as his girlfriend's hand was wrapped around his neck and slowly squeezeing.

"Pepper!" He squeaked. He tried to pry her fingers from his neck but they wouldn't budge. _Super strength_, he quickly reminded himself.

Pepper stood there with wide eyes. She looked up at her hand and noticed how far off the ground she was choking Tony.

"Pepper!" He squeaked again. He began to pat her arm. "I'm tapping out—You can let go now." He tried not to panic, but that idea was quickly discarded.

"I—" Pepper could only stare. She breathed deeply several times. "I can't, Tony—"

"What—" Before Tony could ask her why, he felt her grip on his neck tighten. "Gah!" He choked out.

"I can't move my arms!" She tried to budge, but it was no use. "I don't have control of my body!"

"Damn it." Steve cursed. He quickly sprinted towards the couple, hoping to free Tony as soon as possible. Before he could even make it to them, Pepper had thrown Tony at him.

Steve widened his eyes as the body in front of him toppled him over. He quickly scrambled in front of Tony, in anticipation of a second attack, but when he looked up, all he saw was a gaping hole in the middle of the gym floor. He looked down and noticed the wiring popping out from every direction.

When he looked down further, he could see the nearest piece of land, and a tornado of wind with Pepper in it. He furrowed his eyebrows in utter confusion, and his mouth gapped in shock.

"Ow." Tony began to gasp. He rubbed his neck repeatedly, and coughed excessively. "What the hell—"

"You okay?" Steve calmly asked him. He held his hand out to him, but Tony got up on his own.

"No, I'm not okay. My girlfriend just tried to kill me." Tony coughed a few more times. "As punishment, I'm limiting our make-out sessions. No more sex until she apologizes."

Steve shook his head at him and sighed. "That was unexpected."

"You're telling me." Tony choked out. His hand was still rubbing his neck. "How did you know that was going to happen?"

"Bruce told me to run down here." The captain responded. "Something about an extra nanobot."

"Not an extra nanobot." Bruce's voice boomed throughout the gym, making Tony and Steve look back at the staircase to stare at the doctor.

"What's happening to her?" Tony asked with a shaky breath.

Bruce pressed his lips together in disbelief, he tried to look away.

"Bruce." Tony's voice was stable, and demanding. "What's happening to my girlfriend?" He inched closer to him.

"Whoever injected her with this nanotechnology has control of her body." Bruce concentrated his gaze at Tony, whom immediately walked away to swallow every bit of that information.

"What?" Steve exclaimed. "How is that even possible?"

"The red nanobot you found," Bruce turned to Steve. "When I took it apart, there was a small tracking device. The only possible outcomes that quickly popped into my head was that either the person was keeping tabs on her progress, but what would that do, so I came to the theory that—"

"He's using the nanobots to latch onto her molecular structure to control her remotely." Tony said, horrified of the thought.

Bruce noticed Tony's disgusted expression and slowly nodded. "But the question is, why would he do that?"

"Why would he want to control her?" Steve questionably asked.

Without a beat, Tony quickly barked orders. "Bruce, go tell Fury what's happened. Steve, go tell Romanoff, Clint, and Thor what happened."

Bruce nodded, but Steve wasn't so sure about his plan.

"Do we really need to spread this even further?" The captain asked.

Tony glared up at him. "There's no telling what this sick fuck is going to with Pepper. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Steve turned his head to look at Bruce for some back up, but he simply shrugged in response.

"I think Tony has a point." The doctor looked back at Tony. He stared back at him with a worried expression. "Don't worry. We'll get her back."

"Let's hope so." Tony quickly mumbled before walking past them.

…

She didn't know where her legs were taking her. For once in her life, she had no idea what was going to become of her. Several possibilities, including death, popped in her head.

Her legs stopped in the middle of an abandoned ally. She looked around her and noticed the faint noise of the bustling city. Her eyes widened as soon as she figured out her current location; she was in the middle of New York.

The end of the ally was quickly illuminated in front of her. She squinted at the sudden brightness.

"Miss Potts." The voice gently greeted her.

"Who are you?" She gasped, her eyes quickly adjusting to the light.

He walked out and stopped a few feet in front of her. His hair was brown, very nicely combed to the side. He wore a white cotton t-shirt, and pair of dark denim jeans. His tennis shoes weren't that clean. They looked like they had been through the wringer more than once, Pepper began to observe.

"No one in particular." The man simply said with a smile. He pointed at her, "But you, Miss Potts. You're quite the specimen."

She looked down at his hand and noticed a bulky mechanical glove with glowing orbs on the knuckles. She furrowed her eyebrows at the device.

"What is that?"

The man looked down at his hand and quickly held it up. "This?"

Pepper nodded carefully.

"This marks the beginning of highly advanced nanotechnology, and end of regular human soldiers." His smile was creepy. His lips were thin, and his face was a tad wrinkly. Pepper put his age at around fifty to fifty-five years old. "And you." He pointed at her again. "You're going to be the center of attention."

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**A/N: Reviews are always appreciated. **

**I believe there will be at least three more chapters to this story.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

"We need to find her." Tony pleaded in front of Directory Fury.

They were in the middle of the commanding platform, and Fury had just gotten the news about what happened. Fury looked at him with his eye and abruptly said, "No." Maria Hill was off to the side trying to give orders to some of the crew. Her head turned to gaze at the pair in worry. She knew how Tony felt about Pepper; she was just wondering how far he would go before she had to jump in between them.

"Why not?" Tony asked angrily. His fists were balled up, and his jaw was set.

At that moment, Hawkeye, Thor, Agent Romanoff, Captain America, and Bruce all entered through the sliding doors of the commanding deck.

"We're here." Steve announced. He looked up at the two that were squaring off before stopping at the center table, along with everyone else.

"Why in the hell not, Fury?" Tony continued without acknowledging Steve, and the others.

Hawkeye stood next to Natasha with his eyes planted on the scene in front of them. Everybody had their eyes on them, including the commanding crew.

"Because, Stark, we do not know what _to do_." Fury responded with a glare.

"_I_ know what to do." Tony pointed to himself. "We need to get out there," He then pointed towards the glass windows, "And we need to find her before this guy makes her destroy everything."

"And what evidence led you to believe that?"

"All of the evidence!" Tony practically yelled. "The nano-remote-trackers, the fact that Pepper said she got 'bitten' the day of her super powers, and the fact that she uncontrollably fled to New York after trying to kill me?" He paused to look at Fury in the eyes. Tony's eyes were filled with cries of help. He didn't want to have to hurt Pepper, nor did he want to have to resort to killing her, but he had to do _something_ before everything got out of hand. "Whoever is controlling Pepper obviously has something up their sleeve. And everyone in this room knows the council with have a total _bitch fit_ if her super powers end up on news."

Fury sighed heavily and began to walk back to the center platform. His gaze was on the bustling city of New York. The clouds were hovering over them as if they were a form of protection. The fallout of Pepper's super powers could cause the council to make another rash decision, as demonstrated quite a few months ago.

"What do you purpose we do, Stark?" Fury asked him with his back to the Avengers.

Tony pressed his lips together. "We find Pepper, find out whoever is controlling her, and we contain it."

Clint furrowed his eyebrows at Tony. "And what if we can't?"

Tony turned to him with a worried, but angry, look. Clint continued, "What if Pepper takes us out before any of us can do anything? My understanding is that she has super speed, super strength, and her own suit of armor." He eyed Tony specifically. "How in the hell do we measure up to that?"

"He's got a point." Fury turned around this time with a questionable look. "Care to answer that?" His gaze fell on Tony.

Tony's mind was swimming with the very same question, and he honestly didn't know the answer to it. "I… I don't know…"

"The antidote." Bruce suddenly spoke up with a small grin.

"Antidote?" Clint asked, raising his eyebrow in curiosity. Natasha furrowed her eyebrows in response.

Bruce began to stammer as every person on the platform gazed at him. "Uh… Uh… the antidote that you wanted me to make." He pointed at Fury. "We still have a chance if we can just—"

"Hit her with it?" Steve interjected.

"Um, yes." Bruce nodded. "So to speak."

Thor sprang into the conversation. "But the maiden has super speed. How can we 'hit her' with the antidote if she can move faster than Odin?"

"There's also that armor to worry about." Steve added in.

"We really don't have any other choice." Tony folded his arms across his chest.

Fury pressed his lips together. "Take a few hours to formulate a strategy—"

"But we don't have time for that!" Tony shouted.

"I'd rather have the Avengers _think_ like a team than die like one." Fury spat sternly, before walking towards Maria Hill. Maria looked up at him in loyalty. "I want you to watch the news feed for any activity on this matter."

"Yes, sir." Maria quickly nodded. She went behind one of the crewman and told them to monitor the news feed. The crewman nodded and slid around a few things on the screen.

"So, how are we going to play this out?" Thor asked immediately with a hint of concern.

"How else can we play it out?" Clint shrugged. "We hit her with the antidote whenever the chance arises."

"We can't just dive in there and expect her to leave an opening." Steve shook his head in displeasure.

"You mean whoever is controlling her – to leave an opening?" Tony glared at Steve.

"Her—whoever is controlling her—what's the difference? It's Pepper doing the damage!" Steve responded angrily.

"There's a big difference!" Tony furiously yelled. Bruce tried to get in between them to separate them. "It's not her fault this happened to her."

"Tony, we both know that she _wanted_ to keep these powers." Steve began to shake his head.

"It doesn't change the fact that she's down there," Tony pointed towards the windows. "against her will because of some psychopath that did this to her."

"And if everything had gone according to plan, and Pepper could control her powers just to get them take away from her? Do you honestly think she would've accepted the antidote _just_ like that?" Steve pressed his lips together in frustration.

"Yes, she would." Tony said calmly.

"Why, because she loves you?" Steve spat.

"No." Tony shook his head as his heart skipped a beat. "Because she trusts me."

Steve shook his head at him in disbelief. "She's only _human_, Tony. Trust has nothing to do with this."

"I thought you cared about her." Tony gritted his teeth together.

Steve glared at him sternly, and spoke softly. "I do."

"Then why in the hell are you making it sound like you don't give a damn about what happens to her?" Tony could feel his muscles in his arms tense up.

Steve shook his head at him. "I care about her almost as much as you do. _We_ all care about her, but someone has to be the Captain of this team, and as _Captain_, I have to act serious regardless of the situation." Tony pressed his lips together and angrily shook his head at him. "No one doubts that you love her, Tony, but you have to realize that this situation could play out in two different ways."

"I'm not going to let you kill her." Tony sternly told him through his teeth.

Steve stared at him with a small frown; he didn't want to have to harm her at all. He didn't want to have to take drastic measures against an innocent person that got caught up in such a mess. His tone was apologetic, "We might not even have a choice, Tony."

Tony's eyes were closing in disbelief with his head turning away.

"Director Fury?" Maria suddenly called out, making everyone on the commanding platform gaze at her in worry.

"What is it, Agent Hill?" Fury came up from behind her.

"People are reporting environmental damage in New York from what looks like, flying cars." Hill projected the video feed.

The Avengers, as well as the rest of the crew, looked up at the projection against the windows.

"A woman in, what looks like, a replica of an Iron Man suit, is terrorizing the lower part of Manhattan. There doesn't seem to be any injury reports, but the damages of the surrounding buildings are skyrocketing as we speak." The news anchor paused. "At this time, we calmly urge everyone in Manhattan to evacuate the area. Police officials have yet to make a statement."

"What exactly is this foul creature planning to do?" Thor narrowed his eyes at the projection.

"We need to contain this." Natasha glanced at Fury, who nodded in agreement.

"Get suited up everybody. You can strategize on the way there." Fury told the group.

Bruce pressed his lips in concern. "With all due respect, Director, I don't think I'm qualified for this mission."

While the others kept on walking to gear up, Tony stood back to stare at the Doctor. "What?"

Fury took a glance at Tony.

"Bruce—"

He interjected Tony. "—I don't want the _other guy_ accidentally ripping Pepper in half. It's the last thing I want to happen."

Tony's jaw clenched. He had a good point. Director Fury nodded at the doctor. "Stay back in the laboratory and survey the damage through the team's intercom."

Bruce nodded in agreement, and began to walk towards the lab.

…

Pepper flipped over one of the cars and kicked it across the street, into a nearby building. The explosion sent shrapnel flying towards her, but her armor encased body wasn't the least bit harmed.

"This is crazy!" Pepper yelled.

"It's only the beginning of my plan, my dear." The man's smile was anything but pleasant. His arms were waving about as the glowing gloves around his hands controlled every nerve in her body. Pepper could only watch as the street in front of her was reduced to ruble. He had made her throw cars against buildings, and had used her super speed as a way to fling debris on crowds to scare them away.

"These people—" Pepper gasped, but the man interjected.

"I don't need to kill innocent people in order to prove my point."

Pepper uncontrollably threw a street lamp straight through the entrance of a nearby bank. "And you think destroying buildings will prove your point?"

"The government will know who holds all of the cards in this game." He mumbled to himself.

"This is an act of terrorism, whether you're harming innocent people or not." Pepper tried to tell him.

"The government thinks they can rely on the Avengers to save the world." He began to laugh. "They're so very wrong."

Pepper tried to fight back the water that formed in the corners of her eyes. The thought of having to fight Tony, Steve, and Natasha made her want to double over in pain. She didn't want to have to hurt them.

"Killing the Avengers will prove everything I once stood for." The man grinned in anticipation. "I wonder," He paused to look at her. "How fast do you think it'll take you to kill Iron Man?"

Pepper tried so very hard not to shed tears. "You're insane."

"The government threw me off the project." He angrily pointed at her with his index finger, making her body uncontrollably point at him as well. "You're the reason why I continued my research. I have thoroughly tested nanotechnology with many other human specimens, and each time, their body would decay from the unstableness of the technology."

"Until you used me." Pepper drew out with a shaky breath.

The man breathed a laugh. "I've perfected the nanotechnology. And with this example, I can prove to the government that I wasn't crazy – that superhuman soldiers can be achieved through nanotechnology."

Pepper stood there with her eyebrows furrowed with absolute worry. Her breathing became unstable – she wanted close her eyes; she wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare and find herself in Tony's arms in the Stark Tower. She closed her eyes in sorrow, and regret, but the sudden clang of Iron clashing against concrete made her eyes open.

"Ah, Iron Man." The man grinned at the superhero. "So glad you could join us." The man moved his fingers ever so slightly, making Pepper turn around. Her armor encased body stood in front of the Avengers.

Clint stood on top of a nearby building and drew back his bow in anticipation of an attack. Natasha stood behind Tony with a gloomy look on her face. Her hands were on top of her holster. Steve stood there in his Captain America outfit; his shield rested against his relaxed forearm.

Thor had the same expression as everyone else. He hadn't dare dream of fighting one of his own comrades, even though she wasn't exactly a member of the Avengers. His hand gripped Odin's hammer, ready for the unspeakable fight.

Pepper couldn't see the sorrowing expression on Tony's face through his faceplate, but she imagined it, like she did every time when he stared at her before he flew off for a mission.

* * *

**A/N: I've been itching to draw something Pepperony lately. I've only drawn two things so far (found on my tumblr).**

**Reviews please!**


	8. Chapter 8

The team was not mentally prepared for this battle. Sure, they were a team of elite human beings with certain skill sets, but to take down one of their own, especially Pepper, was not expected.

"Tony…" Pepper murmured to herself. She regretted the decisions she had made. _If I had put in the effort, none of this would've happened,_ Pepper scolded herself.

Tony pressed his lips together in worry. He wanted to execute the plan without having to hurt Pepper at all, but considering his options, he doesn't see a way around it.

"Bruce, you there?" Tony asked through his HUD. Bruce's face instantly lit up on the side of the display.

"Yep, and I already know what you want me to do." Bruce replied with a concerned look. He was looking down, at what Tony imagined, at one of the monitors in the lab. "His name is Doctor Kirk Jordan. He used to work for the U.S Government doing research and development in nanotechnology. He has a Masters in neurology, and a PhD in nanotechnology."

"Let me take a wild guess." Tony wanted to roll his eyes, but he was surveying his surroundings through the HUD. "The man was fired for doing illegal experiments."

Bruce nodded with a small smile. "You should apply for a game show."

"Already did that." Tony added. "Ended up stripping on national television, but on the bright side, it raked in a lot of money."

Bruce slid a few things around on the monitor in front of him. "How does it look?"

"Not good." Tony murmured. "It doesn't seem like Pepper has any control over her body, but her will to speak might give us the advantage."

"The Avengers." Doctor Jordan shouted with a wide smile. "The prestigious league of super heroes; I have dreamed of this day."

"Tony!" Pepper called out. "You need to take out his gloves. It's how he's controlling me."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head to look at Tony. Thor also turned to them for answers.

"Sounds easy enough." Thor said to his teammates.

"I don't think so, Thor." Hawkeye said through their comm. "Super speed can be a pain to deal with."

"But it's not like it's impossible." Steve replied. He took a glance at Pepper's grey titanium case form. "If we spread out and cave in at different angles, we can probably destroy those gloves."

Tony pressed his lips together and gritted his teeth. "Thor and Steve will try to get those gloves off him. Clint, Romanoff, and I are going to try and attack from afar to drive her away from him."

"Got it." Clint immediately said before drawing his bow.

Romanoff removed her guns from her holster, and took in a deep breath. "This won't be easy."

Tony stared at Pepper's form; he could read her mind without having to read her lips. She mouthed that she was sorry. He wasn't sure if he was scared to hurt her, or if he was scared that one of them would die as an outcome. But, he wasn't about to let her be a puppet for some mad scientist.

Clint took the lead and shot an arrow from the rooftop. Alongside the attack were several bullets from Romanoff, and a few repulsion blasts from Tony. Thor took the opportunity and flew into the sky, while Steve darted to the right and around the crowd.

Doctor Jordan frowned, he was hoping to taunt them for a few more minutes. He moved up his gloves in a swift flow, making Pepper's body open into a fighting stance. When he waved his hands around, she ran around the doctor in lightning speed, creating a tornado shield around him. The blasts from Tony, shots from Romanoff, and flurry of arrows from Clint were immediately blocked.

Clint narrowed his eyes and quickly surveyed the situation.

"Oh, c'mon." Doctor Jordan sighed as the tornado around his body began to disappear with Pepper standing next to him. "At least give me a challenge."

Within a second, Thor landed behind the Doctor with a thundering boom. Clint took the opening and took out a special explosive arrow, and aimed for the ground near the Doctor's feet. Romanoff ran to the other side to get a better angle. Tony flew up into the sky and shot a few more repulsion blasts.

Doctor Jordan grinned devilishly and began to work his magic. With a flow of his hands and movements of his fingers, Pepper's body moved rapidly. She kicked Thor in the side with her leg, quipped with her super strength, and sent him flying into the nearby building. She grabbed him by the cape and dragged him with her.

Pepper dashed to the explosive arrow and quickly threw it back at Clint, lodging it into the wall below him. The explosion went off with a loud bang, and in that time frame, Pepper tossed Thor at Romanoff, making them tumble back and slamming into some nearby rubble.

Steve jumped out from one of the alley ways and ran for Kirk. When he got close enough, he lunged at him in a dive, but at the last second, Steve felt a rush of pain hit his side. Sure enough, Pepper had gotten there in a split second, and bashed him in the side with her titanium cased arm.

"Steve!" Pepper called out desperately. She had to watch herself take out the people she cared about, and she could barely comprehend why it had to be her. She wanted to cry out in pain and anguish from the very thought of killing them, but her body moved so fast without her knowledge that she couldn't form words.

"Shit…" Tony cursed under his breath. Thor and Romanoff were slowly getting up, and Clint was still on the roof, coughing from the blast of his arrow. Steve was below Tony, sitting up with a few coughs.

"God, that hurts." Steve gasped as he held his side. The regeneration from the super soldier serum was already kicking in.

"You didn't have a bulky Norse God thrown at you." Romanoff deadpanned.

Thor got up and narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that how you humans call someone fat?"

"Heads up guys!" Clint yelled through the comm.

All four of them looked up and saw Pepper coming in from the sky. Romanoff rolled away from the shockwave Pepper delivered through her landing and immediately fired off the rest of her magazine.

Pepper didn't even pay attention to the nonexistent damage the bullets were doing to her armored body. She reached for Steve and threw him against the nearest building. Tony fired multiple repulsion blasts from the sky, but each one of them was easily dodged thanks to her super speed.

Pepper took out a chunk of the ground from underneath her feet and threw it at Natasha. Natasha tried to dive to the side to avoid the rubble, but felt the rocks hit her in the stomach.

Thor swung his hammer in an uppercut fashion, aiming for Pepper's chin. Pepper's hands landed on top of the hammer and used her super strength to stop it from colliding with her head. Her leg swung upwards and hit Thor in the chest. The impact sent him flying off to the side.

Clint fired multiple arrows at Doctor Jordan in a last ditch effort, but Pepper blocked all but one. She caught the last one with her hand and threw it at Clint. The SHIELD agent tried his best to dodge the bulleting arrow, but it managed to graze his right bicep.

He let out a hiss as his side slammed into the ground.

Tony angrily looked at the scene in front of him. His teammates were all disposed off. Thor was struggling to get up, as was Romanoff and Steve. Clint was slowly inching to get up, but his arm was dripping blood from the large cut caused by the arrow.

"And so there was one." The doctor grinned devilishly. Pepper looked around at the fallen teammates and couldn't believe the damage her body was doing. The horrified look on her face never left. She could feel the hot spots where her armor blocked arrows, bullets, and repulsion blasts. She could feel her hands start to bruise from the various blows she had to deliver. Her heart ached for them; her mouth gapped in sorrow as her body moved forward, towards Iron Man.

She looked up at him as the distress tore her apart. Water soon formed at the corner of her eyes. "Tony…" She mumbled worriedly.

"Ready to reach the same fate, Iron Man?" Doctor Jordan shouted from behind Pepper. "It's inevitable! There's nothing in the world that can stop it." He laid a hand on her shoulder. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Nanotechnology is swimming through her body. The neurotransmitters are controlled with the bots – and I control the bots – it's wonderful." He looked back up at Tony.

"Bruce, I need options." Tony told him.

"You need to use the antidote." Bruce shouted through the HUD.

"How?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows. "With that armor on her—"

"Sir—" JARVIS suddenly chirped.

Tony's focus was pulled to the ground. Pepper was nowhere to be seen. Instead of hovering there like a sitting duck, he booted up his thrusters and flew into the sky, but her super speed got the best of him. She leaped from a nearby building and used her super strength to propel herself into the sky.

She landed on Tony with a loud clang as both alloys clashed against each other, but the heavy impact from her body made him fall from the sky. With her body on top of his, he slammed into the concrete chest plate first.

His HUD fizzed out of control as Pepper immediately recovered and grabbed him by the faceplate. He tried his best to pry himself free, but it was no use.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled before he felt his back slam into the nearby building. He could already feel bruises and cuts forming on his body. She slid his back along side the wall, and slammed him back into the ground with his faceplate still under her hold.

Tony threw his hand up and got a few repulsion blasts in before Pepper's leg slammed his hand back onto the concrete, covering the blast opening, and most likely fracturing his wrist.

She ripped off the faceplate and grabbed his neck.

He looked up at her with bright brown eyes, gasping for air, and struggling underneath her hold.

"Tony." She gasped as tears dropped from her eyes.

"Pep—" He murmured, but her hold on his neck tightened. "—Gah!"

"Stop!" Pepper yelled, glancing at the doctor that approached them. "Please…" The sly smirk on his face tore her insides apart. "Please don't make me kill him."

Doctor Jordan ignored her; he looked down at the helpless super hero. "How do you feel Iron Man?"

Tony glared up at him, trying his best not to break down from Pepper's tears that landed on his Arc Reactor and trailed down his chest plate.

"Nanotechnology at its best." The doctor smirked. With a twitch of his finger, the armor casing over Pepper's face and neck rolled back into her skin. Her orange hair cascaded over her shoulders complimenting her beautiful ocean blue eyes. "I want to see the look on your face when you take your last breath knowing it was one of your own that had killed you."

"Tony!" Pepper screamed desperately. Her grip tightened around his neck, making him choke out, gasping for air.

"Pepper." He managed to gasp as blood trickled down the side of his cheek and into the corner of his mouth. The salty taste poisoned his taste buds. He closed his eyes in pain, and in a last ditch effort, his wrist opened up exposing a thin needle. He struck it into her neck before the doctor controlling her could bring back up the titanium casing through her skin.

She widened her eyes as the antidote slid into her system, neutralizing all of the nanobots. Her hold on his neck loosened and the armor casing around the rest of her body disappeared. Her eyes slowly slid shut as her body gave out. A iron clad glove around her shoulders stopped her body from plummeting to the ground beside them.

Doctor Jordan widened his eyes in horror. "What—What have you done?" He shouted. He moved his arms in intricate ways but Pepper's body didn't move along with it. "Move, damn it! Move!" He yelled.

Steve, Thor, and Romanoff walked towards the doctor with livid looks. They circled around him, trapping him between their bodies. The doctor frantically looked at each one of them before cowering to his knees. Clint walked towards them with a scornful look as he held his bleeding arm in place.

"You okay?" Romanoff asked Clint, concern hinted in her tone.

"Yeah." Clint nodded, trying to shake off the pain. "I've had worse."

"Alaska?" Natasha asked.

"You know me too well." Clint responded with a slight smirk.

"May I knock this guy out with my hammer?" Thor asked the group with eyes surging with vengeance.

"No, no." Steve declined his request by placing his hand on Thor's arm. "We don't want to kill him."

"We'll let Director Fury do that part." Clint grinned.

The doctor held his hands up, and Natasha immediately stripped the gloves off him and tossed them to Clint.

"Bruce is going to love analyzing these things." Clint grinned at the knuckle glowing object.

Steve walked over to Tony with concern for Pepper's wellbeing. He kneeled next to them and noticed her limp form in his arms.

"Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine. The nanotechnology probably took a toll on her body." He responded as he watched her closely.

"Is it over, then?" Thor asked eagerly.

"Not yet." Tony replied as he stared lovingly at Pepper's peaceful expression.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: It's been great! I really enjoyed writing this fanfic. Thank you for reading, and a big gigantic thank you to those that reviewed! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Read and Enjoy!

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Tony entered the laboratory with hooded eyes. He hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours. Pepper was still resting from the destruction in New York, and Director Fury was still talking to Doctor Jordan. Bruce was at one of the monitors in the laboratory; the doctors that were monitoring Pepper allowed him to take a small blood sample to survey the aftermath of the antidote.

Tony scratched the back of his head and approached Bruce from behind, just as the doctor shifted from one monitor to the other.

"Hey." Tony mumbled. He tried to hold back a yawn.

Bruce took one glance at him and smirked. "You look like crap."

Tony looked down at his wrapped up wrist. He also had a few cuts and bruises along his back, and around his face. He shrugged, "I've had worse."

"How is she?" Bruce asked, walking around the lab. Tony leaned against one of the walls.

"She still hasn't woken up yet. The doctors say her body is just resting." He explained to him. "How's everything on your end?"

"Well, so far, the blood sample I got from her didn't contain any active nanobots. I'd say she's clean." Bruce informed him with a reassuring smile. He turned to face Tony and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. "You should get some sleep—"

"I'll get some sleep when I know she's okay." Tony curtly told him; his voice was grounded.

"She's fine, Tony." Bruce tried to reassure him, but Tony wasn't having any of it. "If it makes you feel any better, Director Fury and Agent Romanoff are talking to Doctor Jordan – well, talking is an understatement."

"You think they got anything out of him, yet?" Tony raised an eyebrow, and turned his head to look down the hall.

Bruce turned to one of the monitors and smirked. "You know Natasha." This time, it was Tony's turn to smirk.

…

It was an hour after Tony's return from the laboratory. The doctors examined her and concluded that there were no major internal or external injuries. The only injuries she sustained from the battle were bruises from the impacts caused by her super strength. She was lying in a bed in a temporary room.

Tony sat beside her bed in a plastic chair that seemed slightly more comfortable than a plank of wood. He counted her fingers, the tiles on the ceiling, and then began drawing imaginary schematics in his head. In that time, doctors shuffled in and out of the room, asking if he wanted anything to drink. He waved them away immediately as his mind was wrapping around various upgrades to the suit.

The only thing that snapped him out of his own world was the faint sound of Pepper's voice.

"Mm." She hummed, her eyes fluttered open.

Tony's bubble of upgrades popped in a split second. He leaned over her bed and watched her intently. "Pepper?"

Her eyes opened to the brightness and blurry sight of the room. Her head turned, and her lips formed a sweet smile when her eyes finally lay upon the figure next to her bed. "Hey." She greeted him groggily.

A laugh could be heard through his short gasp. "Hi." He enveloped her hand with his own. She felt a rough fabric glide across her hand. When she looked down, she saw the stiff fabric cast his wrist, and half of his hand, was in.

Her smile disappeared instantly. "Your arm."

He looked down at it and shook his head. "It's nothing—"

"I did that?"

He wasn't sure if she was asking or making a statement. He didn't want to remind her of the events that recently occurred, so he tipped her chin back up with his other hand, and made her look at him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her. "Are you okay?"

"I feel okay—" She stopped, not falling for his tricks. "—How is everyone else?"

"Everyone is fine. Bruce says you're clear of nanobots, and Fury and Natasha are interrogating that crazy doctor." He told her with a small smile. He briefly moved his hand to cup her cheek. She rested against it for a second before enveloping it with her hand and lowering it to her lap.

"Is everything over?" She asked him with a small frown. She was more concerned about the safety of the people around her rather than her own well-being. It amazed Tony how she worked.

Tony couldn't stop grinning. "Yeah."

She smiled back and squeezed his hand in her lap. "What about Thor, Steve, and Clint? I remember tossing them around a lot."

"Clint is healing. His arm was grazed by one of his arrows that…" He paused to carefully select his next words. "… You threw at him – uh, Capsicle and Thunder Thighs will be fine. A super soldier and a Norse God – I think all you did was bruise their egos."

"And you're okay?" She asked him. Her eyes surveyed his face carefully. The cuts on his face looked like they were already taken care of.

He smiled at her and began to nod. "I'm fine. But, I'll have to take a chunk of money out of your pay check for damaging the suit so much."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Funny."

His smile fell flat. "What?" He tried not to smile again. "I'm serious."

"Mm." She hummed in consideration. "Squeezing your own girlfriend out of her hard earned money."

"Hey, it's my money." He pouted. "You're just—"

"—Doing everything to keep you from going bankrupt?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Their original banter already started to kindle between them. It was weird to see them arguing with each other over something as small as money, especially after the recent events.

Tony stuck his chin up. "Iron Man does not go bankrupt." He stated.

She laughed and squeezed his hand with affection. Hours ago, her mind was wrapped around the astonishing discovery of her own super powers. She wondered if she would've done anything to keep them. She wondered what would've happened if Doctor Jordan never had the ability to control her body through nanotechnology. Many 'what ifs' floated through her mind, but the idea of being a regular human being with important tasks and appointments to keep up with seemed slightly more appealing.

A semi-normal life with a not-so-normal atmosphere was all her mind could wrap around. She liked the idea of being superhuman, but being close to Tony and the rest of the Avengers as a regular human being was about as close to danger as she wanted to be.

"You know," He started out as a smile soon graced his lips. "After everything is settled, maybe we can go to that vocation spot on the beach."

Pepper returned the smile and tilted her head to the side in fondness. "Yeah?"

He squeezed her hand and grinned endearingly. "Just you and I, on that private beach, watching the sun set…" He could go on forever.

She bit her bottom lip and suppressed a giggle. After all that happened, she couldn't wait to take a vocation, but only for a couple days. He noticed her pale cheeks and remembered that she hadn't eaten anything in a while, much less drink something.

"Oh," She groaned. "I am dying to get out of this bed."

"Did you want anything to eat or drink?" Tony asked her with an affectionate look.

She swung her legs out of bed. "I think I can manage by myself, Tony."

He got up from the chair and rounded the bed to help her. "Are you sure?"

"Tony, I'm fine." She swatted his hands away. When he got closer to her, she almost chewed his head off. "If you don't let me get out of bed by myself, I'll schedule meetings as early as 7:30 AM." She threatened him.

Tony held his hands up in defense and backed away. "No need to get snippy."

…

Tony and Pepper entered the conference room where Director Fury, Maria Hill, and the rest of the Avengers were gathered at. Fury looked up at the couple and gestured towards one of the chairs. Pepper sat down while Tony stood behind her, acting very protective of his things. He crossed his arms against his chest and looked at the rest of the team, who were sitting down at the table, or leaning against the wall.

"I assume the doctor started talking?" Tony asked, looking around.

"He sang like a bird." Natasha chirped from the opposite end of the table. "I didn't even get to use my favorite technique."

"That's gross." Tony mumbled. Pepper reached behind her and hit him with her hand. He smirked at her reaction.

"He's told us a lot more than we would've hoped for." Fury chimed in.

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Steve asked as he leaned against the corner.

"Agent Hill." Fury called out.

Maria stepped up to the conference table and took Fury's place. She tapped her finger on the table and brought up a blue 3D hologram. The diagram was simple, and was constructed thoroughly.

"After you guys tried to contain the situation in New York," She glanced at Pepper. "A team of SHIELD agents and I surrounded his last known location, which is what you see here." She twisted her wrist to get a bird's eye view of the apartment blueprints. "When we ransacked his apartment, all we found was a computer, laptop, and laboratory equipment."

"There was nothing in his apartment that remotely looked like a serum full of nanobots." Bruce chimed in.

Tony turned to Fury with worry. "So, someone got there before you did?"

Clint furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he listened intently on the conversation. Thor was leaning against the other wall with his arms crossed against his chest. He looked deep in thought.

"That's what _we_ thought." Fury answered him. "But the doctor kindly provided us with some answers."

"Underneath the ground was another room. In the back of his apartment was a hatch covered up with a shed. Inside the shed was a hatch that led to the room. SHIELD Agents are bringing back the contents as we speak." She looked up at Bruce with a small smile. "We were hoping Doctor Banner could analyze the contents as soon as it gets here."

Bruce returned a smile with a nod. "Of course."

"So, what about the mad scientist?" Tony asked. "We can't forgive him for what he did to Pepper, and all the damage that he caused."

"The council is taking care of the press with regards to what happened in New York City. They'll also be deciding what to do with Doctor Jordan, seeing as how the crimes against him stack up to decades of time in prison and are well within their jurisdiction." Director Fury announced with authority.

"The man deserves more than that for harming the poor maiden and endangering the lives of others." Thor spoke up.

"Pikachu is right." Tony nodded at the Norse God.

Fury shook his head. "Doctor Jordan's fate will be decided by the council, and until then, we are to drop the subject. Doctor Banner, I'm going to need a full analysis report of the gloves he was using, as well as the rest of the equipment SHIELD Agents are bringing back."

"Already on it." Bruce nodded before leaving the conference room.

"Everyone else is free to go." Fury watched the team start to shuffle out of the room. He watched Pepper get up from her chair to follow Tony, but he called her back in. "Miss Potts, a word?"

Pepper stopped in her tracks and looked up at Tony. He gave her a reassuring smile and a slight nod before closing the door behind him. Pepper turned around and approached the Director, being very careful not to venture down the list of pirate jokes Tony had told her.

"Yes, Sir?" She responded formally.

He surveyed her for a minute. "There's no doubt that the media has caught a glimpse of you and this little fiasco, so SHIELD has provided you with your own cover." He handed her a file from the table.

"Thank you, Director Fury." She said politely.

"I expect to see Mr. Stark in top shape after you two spend the rest of the weekend on that private beach." Fury suggested with raised eyebrows.

"Ah…" Pepper wasn't sure what to say. She nervously pressed her lips together.

"Everyone deserves a free weekend."

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him and smiled. "I wasn't aware that SHIELD believed in days off."

Fury looked at her, and said without skipping a beat, "We don't."

She nodded. "I'll be sure to keep him on his toes." She turned to leave.

"Miss Potts, before you go." He called her back. She turned to face him once more. "I just wanted to thank you for the generous donation."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him. "What generous donation?"

"One does not simply punch a hole in my ship and gets away with it." He gestured towards his whale of a carrier.

"Mm." She nodded in remembrance. She opened the door to the conference room and closed it behind her with her hand still on the handle. Underneath her palm, she was almost certain she heard the familiar sound of hard metal crumbling under her grasp. She uncovered her hand slowly, with her eyes closed, hoping that what she heard was just her imagination.

"Hey." Tony spoke up from behind her, thus making her jump in her spot. She turned around, almost as if she got caught near the cookie jar.

"Hi," She responded, hugging the folder against her chest.

"Everything okay?" He asked, gesturing towards the folder.

"Yup." She nodded. "SHIELD was nice enough to provide an alibi for me."

"Mm, same military training bullshit?" He asked with his eyebrow raised.

"I don't think I can pull that off." She laughed.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her towards the hallway with a wide grin. "Let's add one more thing to that cover up of yours."

"Which would be?" She already knew where he was going with it.

He stopped in the middle of the corridor to face her. "You, me, some sand in places where they shouldn't be, and a lot of ocean. I've already got the kids packed up, and by kids, I mean Happy, and I've also taken the liberty of bringing the sand castle tools."

"You sure you want to challenge me to another sand castle challenge?" She grinned slyly at him.

"I've been practicing for a while now. I'm pretty sure I'm ready." He nodded with an endearing smile.

She began to walk with him towards the garage where the helicopter and Iron Man suit were waiting for them.

"What do I get if I win this time?"

"Something that begins with a 'T' and ends in a 'Stark'." He responded without a beat. "—Wait a second, who says you're going to win?" He snapped his head back to face her.

She laughed at him and bumped into his shoulder to throw him off balance. The couple walked down the corridor where their banter was still holding steady. The recent events regarding nanotechnology were already being forgotten, as well as the state of the metal door handle.

**The End**


End file.
